Richard Gough (Antiquarian)

Richard Gough (born October 21, 1735 in London , † February 20, 1809 there ) was a British antiquarian .

Life

Richard Gough was born on October 21, 1735, the only son of Harry Gough , Member of Parliament and Director of the British East India Company , and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of a London brewery owner. Two of his three sisters died in childhood.

Gough himself suffered from epilepsy and died on February 20, 1809 of a series of epileptic seizures that had previously impaired his mental abilities. He was buried on February 28, 1809 in the cemetery of Wormley Church in Hertfordshire .

education and study

Gough, who was considered precocious, received private tuition and was largely kept away from social contact. At an early age he began to occupy himself with poetry , history and translation work, some of which his mother had printed at her own expense and circulated among friends. Gough's first work saw an edition of 25 copies for "distribution to the closest friends".

After his father's death in 1751, Gough inherited his property, but as a minor he was increasingly under the influence of his maternal family. This came from the environment of the English Dissenters and had already determined Gough for a spiritual career. Allegedly, some family members are said to have tried to ban Gough from enrollment so that he bow to their will and ultimately take the spiritual path. However, it is attested that Gough enrolled at Corpus Christi College , Cambridge in 1752 and stayed there until 1756 without obtaining a formal degree. According to contemporaries, the closed gough was often the subject of ridicule from his fellow students and also spent his free time in academic exchanges with his tutor, John Bernardiston. Nonetheless, during his time at the University of Cambridge, Gough made some acquaintances with like-minded students, with whom he remained in close contact even after his studies.

Gough's role models for antiquarianism were Matthew Parker , who shaped the antiquarian traditions of Corpus Christi College in the 16th century , and William Stukeley , who supplemented them with modern methodology in the 18th century . In the footsteps of the latter, Gough undertook a number of trips after dropping out of his studies, during which he mainly visited Peterborough , Stamford and Croyland Abbey .

Antiquarian activity

In 1767 Gough was elected to the Society of Antiquaries of London and was nominated director of the same on the initiative of the President of the Society in 1771. During his tenure for the society Gough published numerous articles in their journal Archaeologia , for which he also participated in the editorial. It turned out that Gough was particularly talented as a coordinator and editor of major works, and so it came to collaborations with various renowned historians of his time. Gough was also involved in the publication of the Vestuta Monumenta , a series of engravings, and was thereby able to specifically promote talented draftsmen.

Together with some close friends, Gough tried to prevent the appointment of new members if they only wanted to use the social prestige of the society for themselves. So it came to a final break with society in 1797 when it took on the architect James Wyatt , who in Gough's opinion had no antiquarian skills.

From 1775 to 1795 Gough was also a member of the Royal Society and was in regular correspondence with Gentleman's Magazine . There Gough published some articles under the initials DH and in 1786 succeeded Benedictine John Duncombe as senior reviewer .

Marriage and social engagement

With the death of his mother in 1774, Gough inherited more of the family's possessions and no longer needed a job. In the same year Gough married without much ado, again opposing the will of his family. Gough lived a secluded life in the country with his wife Anne, the fourth daughter of a Hertfordshire landowner . There Gough became the patron of the local parish school and earned a reputation as a generous benefactor.

Gough's will also testified to his keen interest in the financial well-being of his friends: large parts of his fortune went to charitable causes, poorer friends and children of these friends. Originally, Gough had planned to bequeath his extensive collection of books and engravings to the British Museum , but his decision was different when he was not appointed trustee of the museum as expected. Eventually Gough bequeathed his topographical collection to the Bodleian Library and his Anglo-Saxon manuscripts to the Saxon Professor at the University of Oxford , while all the rest remained in the possession of his widow.

Publications (selection)

• The History of the Bible Translated from the French . London: 1747. (Original title: Histoire du Vieux et du Nouveaux Testament , author of the original: David Martin)
• The Customs of the Israelites Translated from the French of Abbé Fleury. London: James Waugh 1750. (Original title: Les moeurs des Israelites , Author of the original: Claude Fleury)
• Atlas renovatus, or, Geography Modernized (First published in 1751)
• The history of Carausius, or, An examination of what has been advanced on that subject by Genebrier and Dr Stukeley . London: T. Becket and PA Hondt 1762. ( digitized version )
• Anecdotes of British Topography. Or, an historical account of what has been done for illustrating the topographical antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland. London: W. Richardson and S. Clark 1768. (originally published anonymously)
• British topography . London: T. Payne and Son, and J. Nichols 1780.
• Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain applied to illustrate the history of families, manners, habits, and arts. London: J. Nichols 1786.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac} Roey H. Sweet: Gough, Richard (1735–1809), antiquary . In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Howard Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000 . tape 23 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 23 September 2004.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Gough, Richard . In: Hugh Chisholm (Ed.): Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 12 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1911, pp. 282 (English, wikisource.org ).
3. ↑ GOUGH (Richard) . Edited in alphabetical order by the authors mentioned. In: Johann Samuelersch, Johann Gottfried Gruber (Hrsg.): General encyclopedia of the sciences and arts . tape 76 . FH Brockhaus, Leipzig 1863, p. 284 ( google.at ).