Author: Towers, William Samuel
Biography:
TOWERS, William Samuel (1757-1810: ancestry.co.uk)
He was baptised on 5 May 1757 at St. Michael’s, Highgate, London, the son of Rev. Samuel Towers (1711-57) and his wife Elizabeth Colborne (1718-1803), who had married in 1754. His father died in the January before he was born. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (matric. 1775) but appears not to have taken a degree. William Gifford (q.v.) annotated his copy of A Version of the Psalms (1811): “I knew the author well. He was a kind-hearted, friendly man. He had some literature, with a very extraordinary memory; but his habits were altogether indolent. A strong sense of duty alone could have forced him to the pious undertaking, which soothed and comforted his last hours” (Holland, 2: 271). He married Juliana Carrett (1766-1833) on 7 Sept. 1786 at Llantilio Pertholey, Monmouthshire, Wales. They went on to have at least three daughters and a son. The family lived at Queen Anne Street West, Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London, where he died from an apoplectic fit on 27 Mar. 1810 and was buried in the family church at St. Mary’s, Hornsey. The work listed here was published by his friends with the preface signed from the family home. (ancestry.co.uk 7 Jul. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 7 Jul. 2022; John Holland, The Psalmists of Britain [1853] 2: 270-1; Morning Post 28 Mar. 1810; London Courier 23 Dec. 1833; St. Mary’s Monumental Inscriptions: hornseychurchtower.com, 20, E18) AA