Author: Tatham, Edward
Biography:
TATHAM, Edward (1749-1834: ODNB)
Baptized on 1 Oct. 1749 at Mill Beck, Dent, Yorkshire, he was the son of James Tatham of Sedbergh and his wife, Susanna Walker (married at Dent, 20 Sept. 1743). Educated at Queen’s College, Oxford (BA 1768, MA 1770, BD 1778, DD 1787), he was elected fellow at Lincoln College in 1773 (to 1784). He was rector of Lincoln College and perpetual curate of Twyford, Buckinghamshire (1792 to 1834) and rector of Whitchurch, Salopshire (1829 to 1834). His 1801 marriage to a wealthy woman, Elizabeth Cook (d 1847), the daughter of John Cook, a builder at Cheltenham, appears to have been unhappy. There were no children by the marriage. In his major work, the published version of his 1789 Bampton Lectures, The Chart and Scale of Truth by which to Find the Cause of Error (1790), he advocated for the superiority of Bacon over Aristotle. Subsequently, he argued that Oxford should suppress its emphasis on Aristotelian and syllogistic logic in favour of studies in science and mathematics. A conservative in politics, his opinions on economics and finance are consistent with those of the liberal Oriel Noetics. He died at Combe rectory on 24 Apr. 1834 and was buried in All Saints’ Church, Oxford. In his will, he named his wife as his prime beneficiary; his sole other legacy was to a relation, Margaret Wakefield, daughter of Edward and Margaret Wakefield of Northumberland Street, Strand. An early biographer described Tatham as “blunt, unceremonious, and plain in his manners … pungent in speech … haughty” (Controversialist, 336). (ancestry.com 2 Oct. 2023; findmypast.com 2 Oct. 2023; PROB 11/1838; ODNB 2 Oct. 2023; ACAD; Alumni Oxonienses; MR 58 [1778], 398-99; GM 2 [1834], 549, 35 [1851], 444; “Modern Logicians: Edward Tatham,” British Controversialist and Literary Magazine [1866], 321-36) JC