Glover, Richard

(1712-1785)

   He was born in London, the son of a Hamburg merchant. While at school in Cheam, Surrey, he published a poem "Upon Sir Isaac Newton" (1728) (it went through four editions) to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton. Dr. Pemberton appended this to his View of Newton's Philosophy, published in 1728. He entered his father's business in 1742 and was active in petitioning Parliament for more protection of British commerce. He was member of Parliament for Weymouth from 1761 to 1785. He died in London. Some of his publications: Leonidas, 1737 (poem in nine books; warmly commended by the Prince of Wales and his court, it passed through several editions, was enlarged to twelve books in 1770, and translated into French [1738] and German [1766]). London, or the Progress of Commerce, 1739 (poem). Admiral Hosier's Ghost, 1740 (ballad, included in Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry [1765]). Memoirs by a Distinguished Literary and Political Character, 1742 (shortened title). Boadicea, 1753 (tragedy). Medea, 1761 (tragedy). Athenaid, 1788 (an epic poem in thirty books, published by his daughter). Jason, 1799 (tragedy).

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).