Author: Maurice, Thomas
Biography:
MAURICE, Thomas (1754-1824: ODNB)
He was born on 25 Sept. 1754 at Hertford, Hertfordshire, the eldest of six children (only two of whom grew to maturity) of Thomas Maurice, merchant and schoolmaster, and his second wife Ann Warner, who had married at Stevenage on 25 July 1753. After the death of his father in 1762, his mother converted to Methodism and remarried. He was well educated at Christ’s Hospital; at a Methodist school at Kingswood, near Bath; by Samuel Parr at Stanmore; and then at Oxford, where he matriculated at St. John’s College in 1774 but migrated to University College (BA 1778, MA 1808). Ordained deacon (1778) and priest (1779), he held curacies at Woodford, Essex (1779) and Market Bosworth, Leicestershire (1779) before being appointed Vicar of Wormleighton, Warwickshire (1798) and of Cudham, Kent (1804), both posts that he held for the rest of his life. In 1799 he became also an assistant keeper of manuscripts at the British Museum. He was a ready writer in verse and prose. Trained as a classicist as his translations of Sophocles demonstrate, and without the benefit of a knowledge of Indian languages, he nevertheless became an expert in “oriental” history and mythology with the support and encouragement of Sir William Jones (q.v.), whom he knew at Oxford. His significant, multi-volume works on the subject include Indian Antiquities (1792-6), The History of Hindostan (1795-9), and a Modern History of Hindostan (1802-10). He also published Memoirs of the Author of “Indian Antiquities” (1819-22). On 10 Aug. 1786 he married Hannah Pearce (1769-1790) at Shoreditch, London, but they had no children. Maurice died in his rooms at the British Museum on 30 Mar. 1824 and on 6 Apr. was buried at Woodford, as his wife had been before him. (ODNB 23 Apr. 2023; findmypast.com 23 Apr. 2023; CCEd 23 Apr. 2023; Alumni Oxonienses)
Other Names:
- Mr. Maurice