Woodley, George

(1786-1846)

   Born at Dartmouth, Devon, and largely selftaught, he served in a British man-of-war and began writing poetry for the amusement of his messmates before he was twelve years old. From 1808 he was editor of the Truro Royal Cornwall Gazette, the Tory paper of the county. Ordained in 1820, he was missionary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, on the Scilly Isles, until 1842. From 1843 until his death he was curate of Martindale in Westmorland. He wrote several theological essays and books on the Scilly Isles. For his essay Divinity of Christ Proved (1819; 2nd edit. 1821) he won a monetary prize from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Some of his poetry publications: Mount Edgcumbe, 1804. The Churchyard and Other Poems, 1808. Britain's Bulwarks, Or the British Seaman, 1811. Portugal Delivered: A Poem in Five Books, 1812. Redemption: A Poem in Twenty Books, 1816. Cornubia: A Poem in Five Cantos, 1819. Devonia: A Poem in Five Cantos, 1820. Some of his poems: "Music," "Saint Warna's Well," "The Lighthouse," "The Sea at Noon," "To a Butterfly," "To the Moon."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Forget Me Not, Volumes 1823-1830: List of Authors (http://www.orgs.muohio.edu/anthologies/FMN/Author_List.htm).