Author: Porteus, Beilby
Biography:
PORTEUS, Beilby (1731-1809: ODNB)
His best known poem, Death or A Poetical Essay on Death, won the Seatonian Prize and was published at Cambridge in 1759 and is therefore too early to be included in this bibliography, where his appearance as a poet depends mainly on anthologies of religious verse. He was the eighteenth of nineteen children of American-born parents, Sarah (Jennings) and Robert Porteus, who left their plantations in Virginia in 1720 and settled in York, Yorkshire. He was born there on 8 May 1731 and baptised on 21 May. He went up to Christ’s College, Cambridge at the age of 17 (matric. 1748, BA 1752, MA 1755, Fellow 1752, DD 1767) and was ordained deacon and priest in 1756. Of his many published writings, most are sermons or lectures: he was much in demand as a speaker. In 1762 he was appointed chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker (1693-1768), and moved to Lambeth, where on 13 May 1765 he married Margaret Hodgson (1741-1815). As one of Secker’s executors, he wrote a biography of his mentor, A Review of the Life and Character of Archbishop Secker (1773). He held several church livings, in Kent and elsewhere, and earned significant honours, notably appointments as chaplain to the King in 1769 and as Master of the Hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester (1776-88). His first bishopric was that of Chester (1777-87), followed by London (1787-1809), in both of which he energetically advanced some of the causes most important to him: Sunday Schools, the observance of the Sabbath, public morality, and the abolition of the slave trade. A Bishop’s seat in the House of Lords gave him even wider influence. He died at the Bishop’s Palace at Fulham, London, on 13 May 1809 “after a long and painful illness” (National Register) and was buried at St. Mary’s, Sundridge, Kent, where his wife was also buried on 29 May 1815. The marriage appears to have been childless but Porteus left generous bequests of £9000 besides providing for his widow. (ODNB 2 Nov. 2023; Newsam, 104-6; CCEd 2 Nov. 2023; findmypast 2 Nov. 2023; ancestry.com 2 Nov. 2023; ACAD; National Register 21 May 1809)
Other Names:
- Dr. Porteus
- Porteus