Thomas Howes, Reverend (October 1728 - 29 September 1814) [1] [2] [3] [4] was an English literary scholar, historian and minister. Little is known of his life except his 4-volume book, Critical Observations on Books, Antient and Modern, published from 1776 onwards, which is an early example of the single-authored scholarly journal. [5] The book was largely ignored in its own time, but merits reappraisal for its intriguing genre. [5]
Howes was one of Joseph Priestley's main opponents in the so-called Unitarian disputes of the 1780s. [6]
Thomas Howes was born at Thorndon, the only son of Thomas Howes of Morningthorpe, Norfolk, and Elizabeth Colman. He studied at Clare Hall, Cambridge and graduated with a B.A. in 1746. He took holy orders and after serving curacies in London he held the crown rectory of Morningthorpe from 1756.
After the death of his father in 1771, he moved back to Thorndon. He wrote several books, particularly his 4-volume Critical Observations on Books, Antient (sic) and Modern.
The book was published in four volumes, but as noted by David Chandler, the book also includes irregular numbered parts (I to XIII), surviving copies of the book are incomplete and sometimes wrongly bound, all of which "presents a daunting bibliographical problem". [4] The following descriptions of the contents of the four volumes is based on available online versions.
Published in 1776 [7] consisting of the following sections:
Published in 1783 [8] consisting of the following sections:
Published in 1784 [9] consisting of the following sections:
Published from 1776 to 1800 [10] consisting of the following sections:
The theologian and scholar Joseph Priestley was one of the founders of the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in England. Its followers claimed that Unitarianism was the faith of the primitive Christian church before later "corruptions" set in (e.g. Trinity). Unitarianism was so controversial at the time that Priestley began writing a pamphlet annually in defence of the Unitarian doctrine. One of his main opponents was Thomas Howes. [6]
Howes was prompted to join in the Unitarian controversy by the publication of Priestley’s History of the Corruptions of Christianity in 1782. [4] [5]
He died at Norwich, unmarried, on 29 Sept. 1814.
Joseph Priestley was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted experiments in several areas of science.
Richard Price was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French and American Revolutions. He was well-connected and fostered communication between many people, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, Mirabeau and the Marquis de Condorcet. According to the historian John Davies, Price was "the greatest Welsh thinker of all time".
Jacob Bryant (1715–1804) was an English scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."
Samuel Chandler was an English Nonconformist minister and pamphleteer. He has been called the "uncrowned patriarch of Dissent" in the latter part of George II's reign.
Vicesimus Knox (1752–1821) was an English essayist, headmaster and Anglican priest.
Daniel Waterland was an English theologian. He became Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1714, Chancellor of the Diocese of York in 1722, and Archdeacon of Middlesex in 1730.
Thomas Belsham was an English Unitarian minister.
Edward Harwood (1729–1794) was a prolific English classical scholar and biblical critic.
The English historian Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) is known primarily as the author of the magisterial The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Both the imposing length of and awesome erudition displayed in that work have understandably overshadowed his other literary achievements, many of which deserve to be noted in their own valuable capacities.
Joseph Priestley was a British natural philosopher, political theorist, clergyman, theologian, and educator. He was one of the most influential Dissenters of the late 18th-century.
Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air (1774–86) is a six-volume work published by 18th-century British polymath Joseph Priestley which reports a series of his experiments on "airs" or gases, most notably his discovery of the oxygen gas.
Charles O'Conor,, also known as Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, was a member of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland and antiquarian who was enormously influential as a protagonist for the preservation of Irish culture and Irish mythology during the 18th-century. He combined an encyclopaedic knowledge of Irish manuscripts and Gaelic culture in demolishing many specious theories and suppositions concerning Irish history.
General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis is an 1814 paper written by Robert Brown on the botany of Australia. It is significant as an early treatment of the biogeography and floristics of the flora of Australia; for its contributions to plant systematics, including the erection of eleven currently accepted families; and for its presentation of a number of important observations on flower morphology.
William Newcome was an Englishman and cleric of the Church of Ireland who was appointed to the bishoprics of Dromore (1766–1775), Ossory (1775–1779), Waterford and Lismore (1779–1795), and lastly to the Primatial See of Armagh (1795–1800).
George Croft (1747–1809) was an English clergyman, one of the early Bampton Lecturers.
Newcome Cappe, was an English unitarian divine. He served as the pastor of the York Unitarian Chapel, located in York, England. Cappe published various sermons and after his death his second wife, Catharine Cappe published many more.
Charles Christian Hennell was an English merchant, known as a Unitarian apologist for his work An Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity.
Edward King (1735?–1807) was an English barrister and writer. His best-known works were on castles and antiquities.
George Robinson was an English bookseller and publisher working in London.