Author: Gisborne, Thomas
Biography:
GISBORNE, Thomas (1758-1846: ODNB)
He was baptised on 31 Oct. 1758 at St. Alkmund’s, Derby, the eldest son of John Gisborne (1715-79), landowner, and Anne Bateman (1731-1800), who had married earlier that year. He was educated privately by the Rev. John Pickering, spent three years at Harrow, and proceeded to St. John’s College, Cambridge (matric. 1776, BA 1780, MA 1783). He was ordained deacon (1781) and priest (1782). In 1783 he was presented to the perpetual curacy of Barton under Needwood, Staffordshire, and inherited nearby Yoxall Lodge, where he lived until his death. He was also rector of Cossington, Leicestershire (1784-7). Later in life he accepted clerical preferments as vicar of Croxall (1838-46) and prebendaries at Durham (1823, 1826). He married Mary Babington (1760-1843), on 1 Mar. 1784 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire. Joseph Wright of Derby painted their portrait in 1786. They went on to have six sons and two daughters. He was an active evangelical and knew many of the leaders of the Clapham Sect. He had been a friend of William Wilberforce at Cambridge and joined him in the campaign to abolish the Slave-Trade, writing Remarks on the Late Decision of the House of Commons respecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1792) on Wilberforce’s abolition motion of 2 April 1792. Wilberforce frequently stayed at Yoxall Lodge. He was also known for his philosophical prose: Principles of Moral Philosophy (1789), a highly-regarded evangelical criticism of William Paley’s utilitarianism; and two works on gender roles, Enquiry into the Duties of Men (1795) and Inquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (1797). His topographical poetry, Walks in a Forest (1794), describing the scenery of Needwood Forest, went through several editions; Rothley Temple (1815), describing his wife’s family estate, was less successful. Poems, Sacred and Moral (1798) collected his verse and the 1803 edition included Ode to the Memory of William Cowper (1800), too short to be listed here separately. He collected his works in 1813 (9v) but continued to publish new work. He died on 24 Mar. 1846 at Yoxall Lodge, aged 87, leaving over £1000 to charities and good causes. (ODNB 13 Oct. 2024; DNB; ancestry.co.uk 13 Oct. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 13 Oct. 2024; GM June 1846, 643-5; Northampton Mercury 8 Mar. 1784; Sheffield Independent 7 Jan. 1843; Staffordshire Advertiser 28 Mar. 1846; GRO death cert.) AA