Author: Noyes, Robert
Biography:
NOYES, Robert (1730-98: Evans)
He was born on 1 Mar. 1730 at Andover, Hampshire, possibly the son of Thomas Noyes, a maltster, and his wife Mary Cooke, who had married in 1721 at Monxton. However, there is nothing to corroborate this connection and it is also possible that he was the Robert Noyes, son of Thomas Noyes and Joan Noyes (maiden name unknown), baptised on 16 Jan. 1728 at Andover, or possibly a second son named Robert, after an infant death. He was educated at Andover Grammar School (1736-46), where he acquired Latin and Greek, and was originally destined for the Church of England, but he became a Dissenter and attended Plaisterers’ Hall Academy, London (1746-51), where he also acquired Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldean. He was invited to be Minister at Newport, Isle of Wight (1752-55) after which he became Minister at Cranbrook, Kent, in August 1755. He married Hannah Lade on 4 June 1860 at Ewhurst, Sussex. They had nine children, six of whom survived infancy. She died in 1781 and was buried at Cranbrook on 28 Feb. 1781, with him giving the funeral discourse. For reasons unknown but most likely as the result of a disagreement with a leading parishioner, he was terminated in Mar. 1781. He vented his unhappiness in the poem Distress (1783), which was reprinted several times after his death and which attracted the attention of Stephen Law of Bedgebury House, near Cranbrook, who gave him an annuity. This continued until his death on 14 Nov. 1798. He was buried at Cranbrook near his wife and children. Rev. John Evans, LLD (1767-1827), wrote a memoir prefixed to the 1805 and 1808 editions of Distress and planned to edit a complete poetical works but there appears to have been insufficient demand and the project never materialised. (Rev. John Evans, LL.D, “A Sketch of the Life of Robert Noyes” prefixed to Distress [1805 and 1808]; ancestry.co.uk 2 Sept. 2022; Kentish Gazette 23 Nov. 1798) AA
Other Names:
- Noyes