{{Short description|English clergyman and poet}} {{for|his son, the artist|James Henry Hurdis}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} thumb|right|An engraving of Hurdis by Romney, frontispiece from ''The Village Curate and other poems'' (1809) '''James Hurdis''' (1763–1801) was an English clergyman and poet.
==Life== Born in Bishopstone, East Sussex, Hurdis attended The Prebendal School<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=A. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmM3AAAAIAAJ|title=James Hurdis: His Life and Writings |date=1960 |publisher=Moore and Tillyer, Limited for the Marc Fitch Fund |language=en}}</ref> and studied at St Mary Hall, Oxford, and Magdalen College, Oxford, later becoming a Fellow of Magdalen College.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Hurdis, James (1763-1801)|volume=28}}</ref>
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.<ref name=ox/> thumb|St Andrew's Church, Bishopstone In 1791 he became the vicar of his home church at Bishopstone. The following year his sister Catherine died.<ref name=ox>{{Cite ODNB|title=Hurdis, James (bap. 1763, d. 1801), Church of England clergyman and poet|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-14251|access-date=2020-10-02|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14251}}</ref> In 1793 he was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=14251|first=Christopher|last=Whittick|title=Hurdis, James}}</ref>
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.<ref name="ODNB"/>
Hurdis died in 1801 and there is a memorial to him in Bishopstone Church. The Town Council Offices were at Hurdis House named in his honour.{{fact|date=October 2020}} His eldest son James Henry Hurdis was a notable amateur artist.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurdis, James}} Category:People from Seaford, East Sussex Category:1763 births Category:1801 deaths Category:18th-century English Anglican priests Category:Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Oxford Professors of Poetry Category:People from Lewes District