Nicholas Battely was an English clergyman and antiquary, editor of William Somner

William Somner

William Somner was an English antiquarian scholar, the author of the first dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon language.-Life:He was baptised in the church of St. Margaret, Canterbury, on 5 November 1598, but according to a statement of his widow and surviving relatives, the date of his birth was 30...

’s Cantuaria Sacra and brother of John Battely

John Battely

John Battely was an English antiquary and clergyman, Archdeacon of Canterbury 1688–1708. He was the author of two antiquarian works published after his death: Antiquitates Rutupinae and Antiquitates S. Edmundi Burgi ad Annum MCCLXXII Perductae...

.

Life

Nicholas Battely was born in Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre...

, the son of Nicholas Battely, an apothecary. He attended the Bury Grammar School and was admitted a pensioner of Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 on 30 March 1665. He was made a fellow of Peterhouse in 1670 and ordained priest at Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 on 18 September 1675. He was Rector of Nowton in Suffolk 1680-85 and Rector of Creeting St. Olave in the same county in 1681. In 1685, he became Rector of Ivychurch in Kent and Vicar of Bekesbourne. He married Anne Pocklington, of Brington in Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...

. He was the father of Oliver Battely. Nicholas Battely died on 19 May 1704, shortly after the publication of his edition of Somner. He is buried in Bekesbourne church.

Works

In 1703 Battely published a folio volume of the Antiquities of Canterbury. The work was illustrated. Battely also left in manuscript a history of Eastbridge Hospital;, after having been partially printed in John Strype

John Strype

John Strype was an English historian and biographer. He was a cousin of Robert Knox, a famous sailor.Born in Houndsditch, London, he was the son of John Strype, or van Stryp, a member of a Huguenot family whom, in order to escape religious persecution within Brabant, had settled in East London...

's Life of Whitgift, it was published in John Nichols

John Nichols (printer)

John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...

's Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, vol. i. (1780). Some notes by Battely on William Dugdale

William Dugdale

Sir William Dugdale was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.-Life:...

's Monasticon were used by John Lewis

John Lewis (antiquarian)

-Life:Born in the parish of St. Nicholas, Bristol, on 29 August 1675, was the eldest son of John Lewis, wine cooper in the city. Francis Lewis, vicar of Worth Matravers, Dorset, was his paternal grandfather. His mother was Mary, eldest daughter of John Eyre, merchant, of Poole...

in his History of Faversham, 1727.

External links

Attribution