The members of the Warton family represented in this collection are Thomas Warton (1688-1745), professor of poetry at Oxford, 1718-28; and his sons Joseph Warton (1722-1800), critic, Thomas Warton (1728-1790), poet, antiquary and literary scholar, and John Warton (1756-1820). Details of all except John are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

The Warton papers consist of:

• Papers of Thomas Warton, including academic and classical notes, literary notebooks, antiquarian notebooks, and sermons
• Papers of Joseph Warton, including notebooks
• Miscellaneous literary papers
• Papers of John Warton and James Ingram

After Thomas Warton's death, most of his papers were taken by Joseph from Trinity College to Winchester. Their subsequent history is not entirely clear. From correspondence of John Warton and James Ingram in Dep. c. 648, it appears that papers of both Thomas and Joseph passed to their brother John. He certainly used several of their sermons, and annotated them with the places and dates of their use. John died in 1820, and his widow and son, Joseph, tried to raise money by publishing and selling the papers. Among the purchasers were Peter Hall (1803-89), who later gave many Warton manuscripts to Winchester College, and James Ingram, President of Trinity College. On behalf of the family, Ingram sold some of the letters to John Murray. The rest remained at Trinity College.

The papers were deposited in the Library by Trinity College in 1978 and 1979.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/admissions/).

A full description and index are available in the Library.

See also Warton Family Papers and Papers of James Ingram.

Many of the papers are discussed in:

• J.C. Cunningham, 'An edition of the English poems of Thomas Warton', Oxford B.Litt. thesis, 1952
• David Fairer, 'The correspondence of Thomas Warton', Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 1974
• David Fairer, 'The poems of Thomas Warton the elder?', in Review of English Studies n.s. 26 (1975), 287-300, 395-406, and n.s. 29 (1979), 61-5

Literature

Poetry

Ingram | James | 1774-1850 | Anglo Saxon Scholar Antiquary Archaeologist

Warton | John | 1756-1820

Warton | Joseph | 1722-1800 | Critic

Warton | Thomas | 1688-1745 | Professor of Poetry

Warton | Thomas | 1728-1790 | Poet Antiquary Literary Scholar