- Richard Pococke
Infobox Writer
name = Richard Pococke
imagesize = 174px
caption = Richard Pococke in Oriental Costume, 1738
— byJean-Étienne Liotard .
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birthdate = birth date|1704|11|19|df=y
birthplace =Southampton ,England .
deathdate = death date and age|1765|9|25|1704|11|19|df=y
deathplace =Charleville Castle , nearTullamore ,Ireland .
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nationality = English
ethnicity = English
citizenship =United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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genre = Travel writer and diarist.
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portaldisp =Richard Pococke (
19 November 1704 -25 September 1765 )"Notes and Queries", p. 129.] was an Englishprelate and anthropologist. He was Protestant Bishop of Ossory (1756-65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of theChurch of Ireland . However, he is best known for his travel writings and diaries.Biography
Pococke was born in
Southampton and educated atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge , receiving a Bachelor of Law degree. His father was Rev. Richard Pococke and his mother was Elizabeth Milles, [Milles (or Mills).] the daughter of Rev. Isaac Milles. His parents were married on 26 April 1698. Pococke's uncle, Thomas Milles, was a Professor of Greek. He was also distantly related toEdward Pococke , the English Orientalist and biblical scholar."Nichols", p. 157.]His family connections meant he advanced rapidly in the church, becoming vicar-general of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore. He seems to have spent far more time travelling than attending to his duties as a churchman and spent 1733-36 undertaking a series of tours in Europe. From 1737-42 he visited the Near East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Palestine and Greece. These travels were later published in his 'Description of the East' of 1743 and 1745, works which were praised by Edmund Gibbon.
During the years 1747-60, Pococke made a number of tours around various parts of Ireland. The longest of these tours occurred in 1752, when he travelled to just over half of Ireland's counties. He kept a record of this tour, but did not publish it. It ended up in the library of
Trinity College, Dublin . Eventually, in 1891, an edited edition of Pococke's 1752 tour was published byGeorge Thomas Stokes .He was made bishop successively of Ossory, Elphin and of Meath in 1765. He spent many of his later years in travel throughout Britain and Ireland, publishing accounts of many of his journeys.
He died of
apoplexy during a visitation atCharleville Castle , nearTullamore ,County Offaly , [Then officially called King's County by the British Administration in Ireland.]Ireland , in 1765. On his death, many of his manuscripts were given to the British Library. [ODNB]He was buried at
Ardbraccan ,County Meath , Ireland.Works
* "A Description of the East and Some other Countries", Vol.I: Observations on Egypt, W. Boyer, London, 1743.
* "A Description of the East and Some other Countries", Vol.II, W. Boyer, London, 1745 — divided into two parts::: Part 1, Observations on Palæstina or the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia.:: Part 2, Observations on the islands of the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and some other parts of Europe.References
Footnotes
ources
* [http://books.google.ie/books?id=l68ZhT2agbEC&pg=PA129&dq=%22Richard+Pococke%22#PPP13,M1 Notes and Queries.] London, 1859.
*Nichols, John. " [http://books.google.ie/books?id=O_wOAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. 6 vols.] " Vol. 2. London, 1812.
*St. John, James Augustus. [http://books.google.ie/books?id=4d9kAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA101&dq=The+Lives+of+Celebrated+Travellers+pococke#PPA101,M1 "The Lives of Celebrated Travellers." 3 vols.] Vol. 2. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1859.
*Stokes, George Thomas (ed.). "Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752." Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co., 1891.External link
* " [http://books.google.com/books?id=wY4qAAAAMAAJ A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World: Many of which are Now First Translated Into English] ", 1811. The full text of Popocke´s "Description of the East" start at p.406.
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