Walter Prideaux (1806 – 1889) was a poet and lawyer.[1] Prideaux rose to be clerk to Goldsmiths' Hall.[2] He was involved in record setting balloon flight.

Walter Prideaux
Prideaux (left) and John Hollins from a painting by Hollins
Born1806
Died1889
NationalityEnglish
OccupationLawyer
Known forPoetry
SpouseElizabeth Williams
Childrenfour

Origins edit

Walter Prideaux was born 15 April 1806, at Bearscombe near Kingsbridge and Loddiswell, one of the six sons[3] of Walter Prideaux (d. 1832) of Kingsbridge and Plymouth, a partner in the Devon and Cornwall Bank, a Quaker associated with the Plymouth Brethren, having in 1812 sold Bearscombe[citation needed] and moved to Plymouth.[4] It is not clear what relation he was to the ancient gentry family of Prideaux seated variously at Orcheton, Modbury; Adeston, Holbeton; Thuborough, Sutcombe; Soldon, Holsworthy; Netherton, Farway; Ashburton; Nutwell, Woodbury; Ford Abbey, Thorncombe all in Devon, and at Prideaux Place, Padstow, and Prideaux manor, Luxulyan, in Cornwall. The wife of Walter Prideaux (Senior) was Sarah-Ball Hingston, a daughter of his partner Joseph Hingston (1764-1835) (Senior), merchant,[5] of Dodbrooke (adjacent to Kingsbridge) in Devon, by his first wife Sarah Ball (d.1790), a daughter of Joseph Ball of Bridgwater in Somerset.[6][7]

Career edit

 Walter Prideaux - lawyerJohn Hollins ... who painted thisWilliam Milbourne James - Lord Chief JusticeRobert Holland ... who funded the tripCharles Green the AeronautThomas Monck Mason - entrepreneurUse a cursor to explore or press button for larger image & copyright
A Consultation prior to the Aerial Voyage to Weilburgh, 1836 A painting by John Hollins[8] The people can be identified using a cursor.

Prideaux is shown in a painting where discussions are taking place for a journey in a balloon by Charles Green, Thomas Monck Mason and Robert Hollond. The three travelled a record distance of 500 miles in 18 hours. Prideaux was included in the painting with the artist, John Hollins, and William Milbourne James.

In 1840, Prideaux's poems were published as Poems of Chivalry, Faery, and the Olden Time[9]

Death edit

Prideaux died in 1889.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Thomas Monck Mason, National Portrait Gallery, accessed May 2009
  2. ^ West Country poets, 1896
  3. ^ A Revised Genealogical Account of the Various Families Descended from Francis Fox, of St. Germans, Cornwall: to which is appended a pedigree of the Crokers, of Lineham, and many other families connected with them, p. 16 [1]
  4. ^ Stunt, Timothy C. F., The Elusive Quest of the Spiritual Malcontent: Some Early Nineteenth-Century ..., pp. 35-36 [2]
  5. ^ a merchant, as stated in various deeds, e.g. of 1825
  6. ^ Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain ..., Vol.1, London, 1846, p. 577, pedigree of Hingston [3]
  7. ^ Kingston family, accessed May 2009
  8. ^ John Hollins, National Portrait Gallery, London, accessed May 2009
  9. ^ Poems of Chivalry, Faery, and the Olden Time, Walter Prideaux, 1840, accessed May 2009