James Hurdis

James Hurdis (1763–1801) was an English clergyman and poet.

An engraving of Hurdis by Romney, frontispiece from The Village Curate and other poems (1809)

Life

Born in Bishopstone, East Sussex, Hurdis studied at St Mary Hall, Oxford, and Magdalen College, Oxford, later becoming a Fellow of Magdalen College.[1]

Hurdis was curate for the East Sussex village of Burwash from 1786, and it was there that he wrote The Village Curate, a blank verse poem published anonymously in 1788. In 1793 he was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.[2]

Sussex shepherds at this time used to catch wheatears in small cage traps to sell as songbirds. Hurdis used to free the trapped birds, but would leave coins in their place.[2]

Hurdis died in 1801 and there is a memorial to him in Bishopstone Church. The local town hall in Seaford, East Sussex, is named Hurdis House in his honour. (The Town Council Offices were at Hurdis House, they moved to 37 Church Street. Seaford does not have a Town Hall). He was a headmaster of Prebendal School, Chichester. His eldest son James Henry Hurdis was a notable amateur artist.

References
  1. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). "Hurdis, James (1763-1801)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. Whittick, Christopher. "Hurdis, James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14251. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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