Newcomb, Thomas

(?1682-1765)

   The son of William Newcomb, clergyman either from Westbury, Shropshire, or from Herefordshire, he graduated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1704. He was chaplain to the Duke of Richmond, Goodwood, Sussex, then rector of several parishes in Sussex. In 1721 he published a translation of the Roman History of Velleius Paterculus (circa 19 B.C.circa A.D. 31). In 1723 he published The Last Judgment of Men and Angels, A Poem in Twelve Books. In his old age he suffered from gout, rheumatism, and possibly kidney stones. The Duke of Richmond settled a life pension on him. He died at Hackney, London, and was buried there. Between 1727 and 1763 he published 11 odes to royalty and other prominent figures, as well 5 undated odes, including The Latin Works of the Late Mr. Addison, in Prose and Verse, Translated into English, a Paraphrase on Some Select Psalms and A Miscellaneous Collection of Original Poems.

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997.