Tasker, William

(1740-1800)

   The son of the rector of Iddesleigh, Devonshire, he was educated at Barnstaple and graduated B.A. from Exeter College, Oxford, in 1762. He was ordained in 1767 and took over Iddesleigh when his father died in 1772. He was rector there until he died and was buried near his father; his wife died the following year. Tasker met Samuel Johnson (see entry) and submitted poems to him for his opinion. At the time of his death, Tasker was employed on a history of physiognomy from Aristotle to Lavater, and many letters by him on this subject appeared in Gentleman's Magazine (vols. 67-69). Some of his publications: Ode to the Warlike Genius of Great Britain, 1778. Carmen Seculare of Horace, Translated into English Verse, 1779. Congratulatory Ode to Admiral Keppell, 1779. Eleg y on the Death of David Garrick, 1779. Ode to Memory of Bishop Wilson, 1780. Ode to Speculation, 1780. Select Odes of Pindar and Horace Translated, 1780. Annus Mirabilis, or the Eventful Year, 1782, 1783, (possibly a reference to the closing stages of the American War of Independence and the Battle of Yorktown in April 1782).

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Gentleman's Magazine (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/journals/srchgm.htm). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).