Richard Polwhele, historian, writer and poet; Rector Manaccan 1794-1821^[1]

1760 - 1838  (78 years)

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  Name	Richard Polwhele  [1]
  Suffix	historian, writer and poet; Rector Manaccan 1794-1821
  Birth	6 January 1760	Polwhele, St Clement, Truro   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Name	6 Jan 1760 (0 years)  [1]
  	born and died at Polwhele, near Truro, Cornwall, and was the son of Thomas and Mary (Thomas) Polwhele
  Married	18 Feb 1784 (24 years)	borough of Truro, Truro Borough, Truro   [1]
  	Clerk; ; resident Breage Borough of Truro; signed register;married by licence In 1782 he was ordained a curate, married Loveday Warren, and moved to a curacy at Kenton, Devon
  Married	1793 (32 years)  [1]
  Residence	1806 (45 years)	The Old Vicarage, Manaccan, Cornwall   [1]
  	From 1806, when he took up a curacy at Kenwyn, Truro, he was non-resident at Manaccan
  Residence	1794-1821 (60 years)	The Old Vicarage, Manaccan, Cornwall   [1]
  	The vicarage was the home of Richard Polwhele, historian, writer and poet, when Rector between 1794 and 1821
  Trade,Profession,Job	1794-1821 (60 years)	Manaccan [Parish Circuit Or Chapel], Manaccan, Cornwall   [1]
  	Rector
  Death	12 Mar 1838 (78 years)	Princes Street, Prince's Street, Truro
  	Early in the morning of Monday the 12th instant, at his residence, Prince's-street, Truro, in his 79th year, the Rev. Richard Polwhele, of Polwhele in this County, Vicar of Newlyn. and a Justice the Peace. With zeal, no pain could shake, no sickness chill, Ardent in youth, in age unwearied still, Thy lengthen'd years, thy varied powers were given To learning's peaceful labours, and to Heaven. 'Midst ' CORNWALL's WORTHIES' long thy name shall shine, Her Poet. her Historian, her Divine Royal Cornwall Gazette - Friday 16 March 1838 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000178/18380316/015/0002
  Interesting fact	Richard Polwhele (6 January 1760 - 12 March 1838) was a Cornish clergyman, poet and historian of Cornwall and Devon  [1]
  Death	12 March 1838	Princes Street, Prince's Street, Truro   [1]
  Occupation	Abt 1770 (9 years) - Truro Grammar School (Truro Cathedral School), Truro  [1]
  	Abt 1780 (19 years) - Christ Church College, Oxford University  [1]
  	1782 (21 years) - Kenton, Devon  - In 1782 he was ordained a curate, married Loveday Warren, and moved to a curacy at Kenton, Devon [1]
  	1792 (31 years) - When in Devon, Polwhele had edited the two-volume work Poems Chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall (1792) for an Exeter literary society [1]
  	1793 (32 years) - Exmouth, Devon  - On his wife's death in 1793, Polwhele was left with three children. Later that year he married Mary Tyrrell, briefly taking up a curacy at Exmouth before being appointed to the small living of Manaccan in Cornwall in 1794 [1]
  	1794 (33 years) - Manaccan [Parish Circuit Or Chapel], Manaccan, Cornwall  - On his wife's death in 1793, Polwhele was left with three children. Later that year he married Mary Tyrrell, briefly taking up a curacy at Exmouth before being appointed to the small living of Manaccan in Cornwall in 1794 [1]
  	1796 (35 years) - When in Devon, Polwhele had edited the two-volume work Poems Chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall (1792) for an Exeter literary society. However, Essays by a Society of Gentlemen at Exeter (1796) caused a rift between Polwhele and other society members [1]
  	1806 (45 years) - The Old Vicarage, Manaccan, Cornwall  - From 1806, when he took up a curacy at Kenwyn, Truro, he was non-resident at Manaccan: Polwhele angered Manaccan parishioners with his efforts to restore church and vicarage [1]
  	1793-1806 (45 years) - Polwhele had by this time begun his History of Devonshire: this appeared in 3 volumes, 1793-1806, but his coverage was uneven and subscribers deserted [1]
  	1803-1808 (47 years) - Polwhele had by this time begun his History of Devonshire: this appeared in 3 volumes, 1793-1806, but his coverage was uneven and subscribers deserted. His seven-volume History of Cornwall appeared 1803-1808, with a new edition in 1816 [1]
  	1816 (55 years) - Polwhele had by this time begun his History of Devonshire: this appeared in 3 volumes, 1793-1806, but his coverage was uneven and subscribers deserted. His seven-volume History of Cornwall appeared 1803-1808, with a new edition in 1816 [1]
  	1794-1821 (60 years) - Manaccan [Parish Circuit Or Chapel], Manaccan, Cornwall  - Richard Polwhele, historian, writer and poet, when Rector between 1794 and 1821 [1]
  	Abt 1830 (69 years) - Polwhele, St Clement, Truro  - At the end of his life, retired to his estate in Polwhele, he worked to produce Traditions and Recollections (2 vols, 1826) and Biographical Sketches (3 vols, 1831) [1, 2]
  	1830 (69 years) - Polwhele, St Clement, Truro  - POLWHELE, Richard Rev, nobility, gentry & clergy Polwhele Extract from Pigot’s Directory of Cornwall, 1830 (pages 169-172) Truro & St Michael [2]
  Person ID	I14842	AHP
  Last Modified	2 Dec 2025

  
  

  Family 1	Loveday Warren/POLWHELE,   b. Abt 1760   d. 1793 (Age 33 years)
  Marriage	18 Feb 1784	Breage, Cornwall
  Age at Marriage	He : 24 years and 1 month - She : ~ 24 years and 2 months.
  Family ID	F4250	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	2 Dec 2025

  
  

  Family 2	Mary Tyrrell/POLWHELE,   b. Abt 1770
  Marriage	1793
  Age at Marriage	He : ~ 32 years and 11 months - She : ~ 23 years.
  Family ID	F4251	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	2 Dec 2025

  
  

• Event Map		Birth - 6 January 1760 - Polwhele, St Clement, Truro  Occupation - Abt 1770 (9 years) - Truro Grammar School (Truro Cathedral School), Truro  Occupation - Abt 1780 (19 years) - Christ Church College, Oxford University  Married - Clerk; ; resident Breage Borough of Truro; signed register;married by licence In 1782 he was ordained a curate, married Loveday Warren, and moved to a curacy at Kenton, Devon - 18 Feb 1784 - borough of Truro, Truro Borough, Truro  Marriage - 18 Feb 1784 - Breage, Cornwall  Occupation - On his wife's death in 1793, Polwhele was left with three children. Later that year he married Mary Tyrrell, briefly taking up a curacy at Exmouth before being appointed to the small living of Manaccan in Cornwall in 1794 - 1794 (33 years) - Manaccan [Parish Circuit Or Chapel], Manaccan, Cornwall  Occupation - From 1806, when he took up a curacy at Kenwyn, Truro, he was non-resident at Manaccan: Polwhele angered Manaccan parishioners with his efforts to restore church and vicarage - 1806 (45 years) - The Old Vicarage, Manaccan, Cornwall  Residence - From 1806, when he took up a curacy at Kenwyn, Truro, he was non-resident at Manaccan - 1806 - The Old Vicarage, Manaccan, Cornwall  Occupation - Richard Polwhele, historian, writer and poet, when Rector between 1794 and 1821 - 1794-1821 (60 years) - Manaccan [Parish Circuit Or Chapel], Manaccan, Cornwall  Residence - The vicarage was the home of Richard Polwhele, historian, writer and poet, when Rector between 1794 and 1821 - 1794-1821 - The Old Vicarage, Manaccan, Cornwall  Trade,Profession,Job - Rector - 1794-1821 - Manaccan [Parish Circuit Or Chapel], Manaccan, Cornwall  Occupation - At the end of his life, retired to his estate in Polwhele, he worked to produce Traditions and Recollections (2 vols, 1826) and Biographical Sketches (3 vols, 1831) - Abt 1830 (69 years) - Polwhele, St Clement, Truro  Occupation - POLWHELE, Richard Rev, nobility, gentry & clergy Polwhele Extract from Pigot’s Directory of Cornwall, 1830 (pages 169-172) Truro & St Michael - 1830 (69 years) - Polwhele, St Clement, Truro  Death - Early in the morning of Monday the 12th instant, at his residence, Prince's-street, Truro, in his 79th year, the Rev. Richard Polwhele, of Polwhele in this County, Vicar of Newlyn. and a Justice the Peace. With zeal, no pain could shake, no sickness chill, Ardent in youth, in age unwearied still, Thy lengthen'd years, thy varied powers were given To learning's peaceful labours, and to Heaven. 'Midst ' CORNWALL's WORTHIES' long thy name shall shine, Her Poet. her Historian, her Divine Royal Cornwall Gazette - Friday 16 March 1838 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000178/18380316/015/0002 - 12 Mar 1838 - Princes Street, Prince's Street, Truro  Death - 12 March 1838 - Princes Street, Prince's Street, Truro   = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Histories

  SW 72 NE MANACCAN MANACCAN 2/98 The Vicarage - GV II Vicarage. C18 with probably earlier core, remodelled circa early and later C19. SW 72 NE MANACCAN MANACCAN 2/98 The Vicarage - GV II Vicarage. C18 with probably earlier core, remodelled circa early and later C19. This vicarage was the home of Richard Polwhele, historian, writer and poet, when Rector between 1794 and 1821. Polwhele was also Justice of the Peace and when Captain Bligh was mistakenly arrested for spying…

  
  

• Sources

  [S200] misc internet. Richard Polwhele Biography Richard Polwhele (January 6, 1760 - March 12, 1838) was an Cornish clergyman, poet and topographer. Born at Truro, Cornwall, Polwhele met literary luminaries Catharine Macaulay and Hannah More at a young age. He was educated at Truro Grammar School, where he precociously published The Fate of Llewellyn. He went on to Christ Church, Oxford, continuing to write poetry, but left without taking a degree. In 1782 he was ordained a curate, married Loveday Warren, and moved to a curacy at Kenton, Devon. On his wife's death in 1793, Polwhele was left with three children. Later that year he married Mary Tyrrell, briefly taking up a curacy at Exmouth before being appointed to the small living of Manaccan in Cornwall in 1794. From 1806, when he took up a curacy at Kenwyn, Truro, he was non-resident at Manaccan: Polwhele angered Manaccan parishioners with his efforts to restore church and vicarage. He maintained epistolary exchanges with Samuel Badcock, Macaulay, William Cowper, Erasmus Darwin, and Anna Seward. When in Devon, Polwhele had edited the two-volume work Poems Chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall (1792) for an Exeter literary society. However, Essays by a Society of Gentlemen at Exeter (1796) caused a rift between Polwhele and other society members. Polwhele had by this time begun his History of Devonshire: this appeared in 3 volumes, 1793-1806, but his coverage was uneven and subscribers deserted. His seven-volume History of Cornwall appeared 1803-1808, with a new edition in 1816. Polwhele's volumes of poetry included The Art of Eloquence, a didactic poem (1785), The Idylls, Epigrams, and Fragments of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus, with the elegies of Tyrtaeus (1786), The English Orator (1796), Influence of Local Attachment (1796), and Poetic Trifles (1796). However, The Unsex'd Females, a Poem (1798), a defensive reaction to women's literary self-assertion, is today perhaps Polwhele's most notorious poetic production: in the poem Hannah More is Christ to Mary Wollstonecraft's Satan. Polwhele contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine and (1799-1805) to the Anti-Jacobin Review. He published sermons, theological essays for the Church Union Society, and attacks on Methodism (although he befriended his main Methodist antagonist Samuel Drew). At the end of his life, retired to his estate in Polwhele, he worked to produce Traditions and Recollections (2 vols, 1826) and Biographical Sketches (3 vols, 1831). He died at Truro. His name survives in Polwhele House School, an independent preparatory school just outside Truro.) https://www.poemhunter.com/richard-polwhele/ [S9] OPC, (Cornwall Online Parish Clerks (OPC)). Miscellaneous Records Index database Cro Ref Refs Range Day Month Year 1830 Record Type Directory Location Polwhele Residence Forename Richard Surname POLWHELE Rev Notes Transcription Click here for full text Transcriber John Evans https://www.opc-cornwall.org/Structure/index_files/Pigot_1830_Truro_&_Michael_St.pdf