Introduction

Biography

The of­fice of sex­ton at St. Ma­ry Red­cliffe in Bris­tol had long been held by the Chat­ter­ton fa­mi­ly. The po­et’s fa­ther, al­so named Tho­mas Chat­ter­ton, was a mu­si­cian, po­et, nu­mis­ma­tist, and dab­bler in the oc­cult. He had been a sub-chant­er at Bris­tol Ca­thed­ral and mas­ter of the Pyle Street free school, near Red­cliffe church. He died four months be­fore his son’s birth.

Thomas the young­er re­ceived his ear­ly edu­ca­tion at Ed­ward Col­ston’s Cha­ri­ty School in Bris­tol, and was af­ter­ward ar­ti­cled to an at­tor­ney. He moved to Lon­don in 1770, but earned lit­tle through his writ­ings.

Overcome at last by po­ver­ty and stress, he burned his ma­nu­scripts and com­mit­ted sui­cide by tak­ing ar­se­nic.

Works

• Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in 1778