User:Rich Farmbrough/DNB/J/o/John Thorpe (1715-1792)

John Thorpe|1715|1792| John Thorpe (born 1715 died 1792), antiquary, born in 1715, was the only son of John Thorpe (1682–1750), antiquary, of Rochester, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Woodhouse of Shobdon, Herefordshire. He was educated at Ludsdown, Kent, under Samuel Thornton, and matriculated from University College, Oxford, on 22 March 1731–2, graduating BA in 1735 and MA in 1738. After some study of medicine he abandoned it, and, like his father, devoted himself to antiquarian research. In 1755 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In 1769 he published, with the assistance of John Baynard of the navy office, his father's 'Registrum Roffense' (London, folio). In 1788 Thorpe supplemented the 'Registrum' by publishing the 'Custumale Roffense' (London, folio) from the original manuscript, with the addition of other memorials of the cathedral church. After residing for many years at High-street House, Bexley, Kent, he removed in 1789, after the death of his first wife, to Richmond Green, Surrey, and then to Chippenham in Wiltshire, where he died on 2 August 1792; he was buried in the churchyard of the neighbouring village of Hardenhuish. Thorpe was twice married. His first wife, Catharina, whom he married in 1746, was the daughter of Laurence Holker, physician, of Gravesend. She died on 10 January 1789, leaving two daughters, Catharine and Ethelinda. On 6 July 1790 he married Mrs. Holland, his housekeeper and the widow of an old collegiate acquaintance.

Besides the works mentioned, Thorpe contributed 'Illustrations of several Antiquities in Kent which have hitherto remained undescribed' to the first volume of the 'Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica'. A letter from him to Andrew Coltée Ducarel maintaining, in opposition to Daines Barrington, that the cherry is indigenous to England, was published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' of the Royal Society (1771, page 152). He frequently made contributions on antiquarian subjects to the 'Gentleman's Magazine'. His portrait, painted by W. Hardy and engraved by Thomas Cook, is prefixed to 'Custumale Roffense'.

DNB references
These references are found in the DNB article referred to above.