Samuel Wesley the Younger (10 February 1690 or 1691–6 November 1739) was a poet and a Church of England cleric.

Birth

Wesley was the eldest son of the poet Samuel Wesley

Samuel Wesley (poet)

Samuel Wesley was a poet and a writer of controversial prose. He was also the father of John Wesley and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist Church.-Family and early life:...

 and of Susanna Annesley Wesley

Susanna Wesley

Susanna Wesley , born Susanna Annesley, was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley and Mary White, and the mother of John and Charles Wesley....

. He was the brother of John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 and Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...

. He was born in Spitalfields, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in either 1690 or 1691. He said he was 18 years old in 1711 and he wrote a letter in which he said he was born in 1690. His tombstone said he died in his 49th year, which would put his birth in 1691.

Education and career

Wesley was educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

 before entering Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 in 1711 where he received a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in 1715 and a M.A. in 1718. He was ordained and became head usher at Westminster School for 20 years from 1713 to 1733). After that he was master

Schoolmaster

A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...

 of Blundell's School

Blundell's School

Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school located in the town of Tiverton in the county of Devon, England. The school was founded in 1604 by the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and relocated to its present location on the...

, Tiverton, where he died after a short illness on 6 November 1739. He is buried in the Tiverton churchyard.

Marriage

Wesley married Ursula Berry (died c1742), daughter of the Reverend John Berry, vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of Walton, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

. They had six children, four of whom died in infancy. Only a daughter survived them.

Religion

A high church Tory, Wesley was a friend of Bishop Francis Atterbury

Francis Atterbury

Francis Atterbury was an English man of letters, politician and bishop.-Early life:He was born at Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, where his father was rector. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a tutor...

. He was never a Methodist.

Text records

• 1723 The Battle of the Sexes. A Poem.
• 1726 Pastoral.
• 1726 The Iliad in a Nutshell: or, Homer's Battle of the Frogs and Mice.
• 1736 The Descriptive: a Miltonick. After the Manner of the Moderns.
• 1736 ca.Wroote: a Heroic Poem. Humbly inscribed to Miss Mehetabel Wesley.

Publications

• Neck or nothing, a consolatory letter from Mr Dunton to Mr Curll. 1716.
• The battle of the sexes: a poem. 1723.
• A new ballad. 1723.
• The story of the three children. 1724.
• The pig and the mastiff: two tales. 1725.
• The Iliad in a nutshell: or Homer's Battle of the frogs and mice. 1726.
• To the memory of the right reverend father in God, Francis Gastrell. 1726.
• The prisons open'd: a poem. 1729.
• Verses on the death of Mrs Morice. 1730.
• The cobbler, a tale. 173?
• The parish priest: a poem upon a clergyman lately deceas'd. 1732.
• The Christian poet ... or poems by Mr. Wesley. 1735.
• Four tales after the manner of the ingenious Matt Prior. 1735?
• Poems on several occasions. 1736, 1743.
• Tales, instructive and entertaining. 1808.
• Poems on several occasions ... including many pieces never before published, ed. John Nichols

Sources

• Virginia Tech, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Biography of Rev. Samuel Wesley the Younger, Extracted 9 July 2009
• National Library of Australia, Catalogue of works by Samuel Wesley, Extracted 9 July 2009
• Henry D. Rack, ‘Wesley, Samuel the younger(1690/91-1739)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 15 Dec 2006