Author: Morfitt, John
Biography:
MORFITT, John (1757-1809: ancestry.com)
Although in his first verse publication Morfitt was responsible only for the Latin original (not the English translation), his poetical credentials are demonstrated in the “Poetical Sketches” included in Priscilla (Pointon) Pickering’s Poems of 1794. He was born on 17 July 1757 and baptised on 23 Aug. at the Horsford chapel, Guisely, Yorkshire, where his father was curate. His parents, Rev. John Morfitt (1730-82) and Rosamond Pollard (1726-81), had been married in the same church on 1 Nov. 1753. Morfitt matriculated at University College, Oxford, on 8 Apr. 1785 but appears not to have taken a degree. He had previously trained as a barrister at the Inner Temple, London, and been called to the bar in June 1784. There is no reliable evidence of any marriage or children. He settled in Birmingham, Warwickshire, where he practiced as a barrister and engaged in some political pamphleteering (Observations on the Present Alarming Crisis, etc., 1797). The popular anti-Jacobin publications of “Job Nott, Buckle-Maker,” from the time of the Priestley riots in 1791 have sometimes been attributed to him—incorrectly, but suggesting the general tenor of his opinions. As a supporter of the blind poet Priscilla (Pointon) Pickering (q.v.), he introduced her to his friend Joseph Weston (q.v.) who edited and also contributed poems to her final collection. Morfitt died at Birmingham and was buried there at St. Paul’s on 14 May 1809. (ancestry.com 11 July 2023; findmypast.com 12 July 2023; Alumni Oxonienses; CCEd 11 July 2023; Leeds Intelligencer 6 Jul. 1784; Northampton Mercury 13 May 1809)