Author: HAWKINS, William
Biography:
HAWKINS, William (1721-1801: ODNB)
Most of Hawkins’s poetical publications antedate 1770, but there was one last substantial collection in 1781, the same year in which his son of the same name (b 1751, q.v.) published another anonymously in Chester as by “an unlettered bard.” He was the elder son of William Hawkins, serjeant-at-law, and his first wife Sarah Jenyns. His birthplace is not known; his age at death was 79 and so his birthdate is sometimes calculated as 1722. There was a family association with Pembroke College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1737 (BA 1742, MA 1744). A Fellow of Pembroke from 1742, he became Professor of Poetry in 1751 and held that position until 1756. He was ordained deacon in 1744 and priest in 1745; in 1764 he became Vicar of Whitchurch in Dorset and in 1767 a prebendary of Wells Cathedral in Somerset, both of which posts he retained until his death. From 1796 until his death he was also Rector of St. Aldgate’s, Oxford. By 1751 he was married to Blanch Griffiths; they had at least the one son. Hawkins was a ready writer who contributed poems to magazines as a youth, published some verse satires, and worked hard but in vain hoping for a breakthrough as a dramatist. Among his published theatrical pieces are some original plays (Henry the Second and The Siege of Aleppo) and a not very successful adaptation of Shakespeare (Cymbeline). He also published sermons and other works on theological or ecclesiastical matters. Three volumes of his works, including his Latin lectures on poetry, appeared in 1758. His last significant publication was a set of Bampton lectures, Discourses on Scripture Mysteries (1787). He died “in a fit of apoplexy” at Oxford on 13 Oct. 1801. (“Hawkins, William [1681/2-1750]” and “Hawkins, William [1721-1801],” ODNB 17 Mar. 2022; ancestry.com 18 Mar. 2022; findmypast.com 18 Mar. 2022; Alumni Oxonienses; CCEd 18 Mar. 2022; Bath Chronicle 22 Oct. 1801) HJ