Author: Heming, Thomas
Biography:
HEMING, Thomas (b c 1781: Alumni Oxonienses)
The only reliable source for information about Heming (sometimes Hemming) is an entry in Alumni Oxonienses which identifies him as the son of Thomas Heming of Alcester, Warwickshire, gentleman, who matriculated at Magdalen Hall on 15 May 1812 at the unusually advanced age of 31. No birth record has been found but his parents, Thomas Heming and Elizabeth Harper, both of Alcester, had married there in 1774. Newspaper reports indicate that by 1810 his father was farming at Cookhill near Alcester and selling off property in the area. In 1814, however, he was declared insolvent and his property was first subject to auction and then was put in trust to pay his debts. In the meantime the son at Oxford, perhaps planning to take a degree and become a clergyman, published his poem, which met with sarcastic reviews and advice to the author to “choose some other occupation.” Heming developed a second string as a writer on biblical geography with two prose works (1816, 1818) still by “T. Heming of Magdalen Hall, Oxford.” He did not stay to take a degree, however, and it is not known what became of him. There was a man of this name (Hemming) with this birthdate still living in the vicinity of Alcester at the time of the Census in 1841 and 1851 but his occupation is given as “Labourer,” which seems improbable. The name was not uncommon in the district and in any case he might have moved away to find suitable work. (Alumni Oxonienses; ancestry.com 19 Apr. 2022; findmypast.com 19 Apr. 2022; Worcester Journal 3 May 1810, 10 Nov. 1814, 24 Nov. 1814)
Other Names:
- T. Heming