Author: Huddesford, George
Biography:
HUDDESFORD, George (1749-1809: ODNB)
The youngest son of George Huddesford DD (1698-1776), president of Trinity College, Oxford, and his second wife Elizabeth Croke, he was baptised at St. Mary Magdalen in Oxford on 7 Dec. 1749. From Winchester College he went to Oxford, initially to Trinity (matric. 1768) but soon migrating to New College (Scholar 1769, Fellow 1771, BA 1779, MA 1780). His academic career was interrupted by an impulsive marriage, by licence, to Mary Edwards on 27 Feb. 1772 at St. George’s, Bloomsbury, London. No baptismal records have been found for children. He studied painting with Sir Joshua Reynolds and was talented enough to have exhibited three paintings at the Royal Academy by 1775. He also turned to literature, mainly of a satirical turn. The first Part of Warley, published anonymously, was dedicated to Reynolds. He eventually returned to Oxford and took orders in 1780, thereafter serving as curate at Egham (1781), as lecturer at St. George the Martyr, Queen Square, London (1786-1804), as sinecure rector at Darowen, North Wales (1800-10), as vicar at Loxley, Warwickshire (1803-10), and as curate at Sir George Wheeler’s Chapel in Christchurch, Spitalfields. He died at his home in Titchfield St., Fitzroy Square, London in Oct. (not Nov.) 1809. (ODNB 16 Dec. 2022; findmypast.com 17 Dec. 2022; ancestry.com 17 Dec. 2022; CCEd 17 Dec. 2022) HJ