# Thomas Maurice > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Maurice > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Maurice.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Maurice > Source revision: 1342233457 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British oriental scholar and historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2022}} {{infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL}} '''Thomas Maurice''' (1754 – 30 March 1824) was a British oriental scholar and historian. The son of a schoolmaster, Maurice was educated at the Wesleyan seminary at Bristol before entering [University College, Oxford](/source/University_College%2C_Oxford) in 1774, aged 19 (B.A. 1778, M.A. 1808); he was chaplain to the 87th regiment (about 1784), Vicar of [Wormleighton](/source/Wormleighton), [Warwickshire](/source/Warwickshire) (1798–1824) and [Cudham](/source/Cudham), Kent (1804–24). Maurice was a noted oriental scholar and historian, and assistant-keeper of MSS at [the British Museum](/source/British_Museum) (1798–24).[http://198.82.142.160/spenser/authorrecord.php?action=GET&recordid=33264] {{dead link|date=February 2022}} ==Life== Maurice, an English divine and scholar, noted particularly for his studies of the antiquities of India, was born about 1755 at [Hertford](/source/Hertford), where his father was then head-master of the [Christ's Hospital school](/source/Christ's_Hospital). After his father's death the family was impoverished by an unfortunate marriage of the widow, and his education proceeded irregularly till [Dr. Parr](/source/Samuel_Parr), on opening his school at [Stanmore](/source/Stanmore), was prevailed on to receive him as a pupil, and treated him with great generosity and kindness. Destined for the Church, he entered at nineteen [St. John's College, Oxford](/source/St_John's_College%2C_Oxford), whence he removed next year to [University College](/source/University_College%2C_Oxford). After taking his degree of [B.A.](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts), he was ordained by [bishop Lowth](/source/Robert_Lowth), and held for some time the curacy of the large parish of Woodford, in Essex, which in 1785 he resigned for a chapel at [Epping](/source/Epping%2C_Essex), in order to obtain greater leisure for study. His turn for historical studies had been fostered at University College by his distinguished tutor [Lord Stowell](/source/William_Scott%2C_1st_Baron_Stowell), and he now began to concentrate his attention on the history of India, for treating upon which he made proposals in 1790 in a published letter addressed to the [East India](/source/East_India_Company) directors. The irreligious spirit of the [French Revolution](/source/French_Revolution), alarming Maurice's mind, induced him to remodel his first work after it was nearly completed, and to devote a considerable proportion of it to dissertations on the [Hindu mythology](/source/Hindu_mythology). In 1791 he came before the public with two volumes of his ''Indian Antiquities'': the rest were brought out at intervals, the completion of the work being mainly owing to the liberality of the [earl of Harborough](/source/Baron_Sherard); and the seventh and last volume appeared in 1797. This work remains to our day a trustworthy book of reference. Meantime he had undertaken a ''History of [Hindostan](/source/Hindustan),'' the three volumes of which, in [quarto](/source/quarto), were published in 1795, 1798, 1799, and a second edition appeared in 1821. In 1798, [earl Spencer](/source/Earl_Spencer_(peerage)) presented him to the [vicarage](/source/Clergy_house) of [Wormleighton](/source/Wormleighton), in [Warwickshire](/source/Warwickshire); next year he was appointed assistant librarian in the [British Museum](/source/British_Museum); in 1800 [bishop Tomline](/source/George_Pretyman_Tomline) obtained for him the pension that had been held by the poet [Cowper](/source/William_Cowper); and in 1804 he received from the [lord chancellor](/source/Lord_Chancellor) the vicarage of [Cudham](/source/Cudham), in [Kent](/source/Kent). His ''Modern History of Hindostan,'' in two volumes, appeared in 1802 and 1804. Several other volumes on Eastern history and theology, and attempts in verse, succeeded this work; and one of his last undertakings was his ''Memoirs, comprehending the History of the Progress of Indian Literature, and Anecdotes of Literary Characters in Britain, during a Period of Thirty Years.'' Of this work the three volumes appeared in 1819, 1820, and 1822. He died on 30 March 1824. See ''English Cyclop.'' s.v.; Allibone, ''Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors,'' s.v.; Gorton, ''Biog. Dict.'' s.v. {{McS|year=}} ==Text records== * 1775 – The School-Boy, a Poem. * 1777 – A Monody, sacred to the Memory of Elizabeth, Dutchess of Northumberland. * 1778 – The Oxonian. A Poem. * 1779 – Hinda; an Eastern Elegy. * 1784 – Westminster Abbey: an Elegiac Poem. * 1795 – An Elegiac and Historical Poem, sacred to the Memory and Virtues of the Honourable Sir William Jones. * 1806 – Verses, being an Apology for the Errors and Eccentricities of Genius. ==Publications== * The school-boy, a poem. In imitation of Mr. Phillips's Splendid Shilling. 1775. * Hagley. A descriptive poem. 1776. * Netherby: a poem. 1776. * A monody addressed to the memory of Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland. 1777. * The Oxonian. A poem. 1778. * Poems and miscellaneous pieces. 1779. * Westminster Abbey: an elegiac poem. 1784. * Panthea; or, the Captive bride, a tragedy; founded upon a story in Xenophon. 1789. * A letter addressed to the ... directors of the [East India Company](/source/East_India_Company). 1790. * An elegiac poem, sacred to the memory and virtues of the Honorable Sir William Jones. 1795. * Indian antiquities. 7 vols, 1793–1800. * History of Hindustan. 2 vols, 1795–98; 3 vols, 1820. * The crisis, or the British Muse to the British minister and nation. 1798. * Sanscreet fragments, or interesting fragments from the sacred books of the Brahmins. 1798. * Grove hill: a descriptive poem; with an ode to nature. 1799. * A dissertation on the oriental trinities. 1800. * Poems, epistolary, lyric, and elegiacal. 1800. * The modern history of Hindostan. 2 vols, 1802–10. * Select poems. 1803. * Elegy on [Right Honourable](/source/The_Right_Honourable) William Pitt. 1806. * The fall of the Mogul, a tragedy. With other occasional poems. 1806. * Richmond Hill: a descriptive and historical poem. 1807. * Elegiac lines, sacred to the memory of [Henry Hope](/source/Henry_Hope). 1811. * Brahminical fraud detected. 1812. * [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey), with other occasional poems. 1813. * Observations connected with astronomy and [ancient history](/source/ancient_history). 1816. * Observations on the ruins of Babylon. 1816. * Observations on the remains of [ancient Egypt](/source/ancient_Egypt)ian grandeur and superstition. 1818. * Memoirs of the author of Indian antiquities, etc. 3 vols, 1819–22. * A free translation of the [Oedipus Tyrannus](/source/Oedipus_Rex) of Sophocles. 1822. ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} *''History of Hindostan'' **[https://books.google.com/books?id=X2sLAAAAIAAJ Vol. 1] **[https://archive.org/details/MauriceHistoryOfHindostanVol2 Vol. 2] **[https://archive.org/details/historyofhindost03maurrich Vol. 3] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Maurice, Thomas}} Category:1754 births Category:1824 deaths Category:19th-century English historians Category:19th-century English male writers Category:English orientalists Category:Year of birth unknown Category:18th-century English historians Category:18th-century English male writers Category:English male non-fiction writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Maurice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Maurice) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Maurice?action=history)). 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