Churchill, Thomas Otton

Submitted by edpope on

Churchill 17.2.1801 at Joseph Johnson's / 9.12.1803 at Philips's / 19.9.1804 at Johnson's / 21.11.1804 again / 23.6.1807 again / 29.12.1809 at Johnson's funeral / 11.5.1824 Ld Cha Churchil at theatre

Otton 3.10.1791 tea at Godwin's with Holcroft / 30.11.1791 calls / 2.12.1791 calls (talk of Moses) / 25.10.1792 call on / 17.5.1793 tea at his / 17.6.1793 calls / 2.7.1793 calls, talk of property / 23.9.1793 calls / 25.12.1793 call on / 24.3.1794 calls / 31.3.1794 again / 8.4.1794 again / 12.8.1794 tea at his / 19.1.1795 calls / 21.10.1795 again / 10.11.1795 again / 12.1.1796 again / 29.1.1796 again / 11.2.1796 again / 13.2.1796 adv at dinner / 15.2.1796 calls / 26.2.1796 again / 2.3.1796 again / 15.3.1796 again / 24.3.1796 at tea / 6.4.1796 calls / 2.5.1796 again / 3.6.1796 agaqin / 8.6.1796 again / 24.9.1796 again / 2.3.1797 again / 30.7.1797 call on, with W(ollstonecraf)t / 9.10.1798 dine at Johnson's with Fuseli & Hewlett / 6.2.1800 calls / 6.9.1801 call on, with C(lairmon)t / 25.9.1801 calls / 2.11.1828 dies.(Otton has person record on GD website but not identified)

Thomas Otton Churchill buried 9.11.1828 (7 days after Godwin noted Otton's death) of Upper Ashby Street buried St James Clerkenwell (age left blank). This suggests Otton adopted the surname Churchill by 1799 (or by 1796 if he was editor of 4th edition of Sheridan's Dictionary), and thereafter Godwin used Churchill when he saw him in the publishing context but retained Otton for the personal context. There were 5 occasions when Fenwick and Otton both called, slightly above random chance. The review of T O Churchill's 1823 grammar suggested he was influenced by Sheridan's *orthoepy*. 

Thomas Otter married 1.10.1750 at Melcombe Regis, Dorset, Catherine Churchill. Katherine dau of Nathanael & Sarah Churchill was baptised 27.6.1723 at Fleet, Dorset (adjacent to Melcombe Regis). Nathaniel Churchill Otton son of Thomas Moriah & Catherine Otton was baptised 11.1.1760 at Melcombe Regis, Dorset. Thomas son of Thomas & Mariah Otton was bapt 1758 at Melcombe Regis. These are from FamilySearch, Ancestry & FindMyPast, and the Otter and Mariah are probably transcription mistakes. See also comments below where Giacomo Ferrieri has a birth date for Thomas Otton in 1757 in Dorset. The will PCC of Thomas Moriah Otton mariner of Sidbury Devon dated 18.12.1752 made his wife Catharine executor and she proved it on 2.5.1767. (Note the Devon and Dorset parishes, though some 35 miles apart, are all coastal). Their son Thomas born c.1757 was probably Godwin's friend. According to Giacomo Ferrieri he was a ship's surgeon in London in 1779, in which case he was quite likely the Thomas Otton apprenticed 1774 to Thomas Rawlings, surgeon & apothecary of Yeovil. Thomas Walpole Otton son of Thomas & Elizabeth Otton was bapt 23.4.1783 at St Saviours Southwark. Some very sketchy Ancestry user-submitted trees give his wife Elizabeth's maiden name as Bucking but this could be a confusion with the marriage of (presumably another) Thomas Moriah Otton to Elizabeth Bucking in Devon in 1751. Elizabeth's maiden name was quite likely Walpole, her child's middle name. Two other sons of Thomas & Elizabeth Otton died in Clerkenwell, where Thomas Otton Churchill died - Ralph Churchill Otton (printer of Charles St, Holborn 1820, buried Clerkenwell 1847 age 59), and Thomas Moriah Otton, gold & silversmith, buried 1833, two of whose sons were booksellers in Clerkenwell. There were several individuals in Devon named Thomas Moriah Otton. Adopting a mother's maiden name was most often done to acknowledge an inheritance but I could find no will for Nathaniel Churchill. 

4th edition of Thomas Sheridan's "A Complete Dictionary"&c published 1797 editor T Churchill signed preface London 1.12.1796 / T Churchill translated Herder's Philosophy of History publ 1800 by J Johnson, translator's preface dated 15.11.1799 / T O Churchill,  Life of Lord Viscount Nelson 1808 published by Robert Bowyer (DNB 1758-1834) with fifteen prints, reviewed Quarterly Review Feb 1810 p218ff / Holdens 1811 Thomas Churchill, Park St Islington (this was perhaps T F Churchill see Memoir in New Jerusalem Magazine Jan 1828). T O Churchill was clearly a different person from T F Churchill (see Churchill, Thomas Furlong in Swedenborgians dataset), although Joseph Johnson published them both / Morning Post 16.7.1823 ad for A New Grammar of the English language by T O Churchill, translator of Herder's Philosophy of History and Bossut's History of Mathematics. Reviewed in Monthly Review May 1824 / Bossut's History of Mathematics was published by Joseph Johnson in 1803, the editor was John Bonnycastle (DNB c.1760-1821) but Churchill may have been the translator / Gents Mag Aug 1827 p123-4 letter from T O Churchill / / and see comment below by Giacomo Ferrieri

 

Work notes
Thomas Otton chairmaker 25 Buckingham St York Bldgs Sun F 1801 / Joseph Otton baker 9 Little Newport St Sun F 1808-9 / Thos Otton appr to Joseph Lock tailor Lyme Regis 1779 / Capt Jochim Otton of ship Anna Constantin 1770 from Danzig, Isaac Solly (Nat Arch ADM106/1193/47) / John Otton ironmonger & stationer Bristol 1824 (perhaps PCC 1838 JO gent of Winsham Somerset)

Giacomo Ferrieri (not verified)

Sat, 30/08/2014 - 15:54

Hi Ed,

I'm also interested in discoveringthe biography of Thomas O. Churchill.
I found TO Churchill, RP, RP = Registeres Parliamentarian.

In 1797 he published a rivised edition (the 4th one) of Thomas Sheridan's "A complete dictionary of
the English language". (Lounsbury 1904:241).

And apparently he appreciated Sheridan as an actor.

He was apparently a polymath, having translated Herder, Condorcet, but also Bossut. He was a friend of Fuseli.

Although possessing all of this information it is impossible to find When/where he was bord and died.

Hi Giacomo

Yes an interesting person. The name Thomas Churchill isn't very common, even without any middle name, so the translator and the surgeon/apothecary may have been the same person as both were published by Johnson, also a friend of Fuseli, but I'm currently inclined to think they were different. Note I've added details of the surgeon to my entry one of which suggests he may have been an anti-Jacobin. I plan to look at the originals when next at  the National Archives. Not sure what you mean by Registeres Parliamentarian or what your other sources are. I'm sure we can find out more about him. Thanks for your comment which has renewed my curiosity about him

Edward

Giacomo Ferrieri (not verified)

Sun, 19/10/2014 - 01:54

In reply to by edpope

Dear Edward,
thank you very much indeed for your kind reply and the update.
«Registeres» was actually a typo for «Registered»: Registered Parliamentarian.

I haven't found anything more, so far; I'm sure you'll have more chance to find anymore information, than I do.
Best wishes,

Giacomo

Giacomo Ferrieri (not verified)

Sun, 19/10/2014 - 02:24

In reply to by edpope

I forgot:
I found a "Thomas Otton Churchill", who died abt. 1828, existed. I don't know whether this might be of some help or not.

g

edpope

Fri, 24/10/2014 - 18:47

In reply to by Giacomo Ferrieri (not verified)

yes well spotted Thomas Otton Churchill was buried 9.11.1828 and Godwin noted Otton dies on 2.11.1828. Must be the same person and distinct from Thomas Furlong Churchill. I've put all the data together under my entry for Churchill. I still don't know what Registered Parliamentarian means, nor could I find which of Condorcet's works T O Churchill may have translated

Giacomo Ferrieri (not verified)

Sat, 25/10/2014 - 19:51

In reply to by edpope

Dear Edward,

my personal linguistic speculation* points to a South-Western origin of Thomas Otton Churchill; and this is supported by both of his surnames, apparently. Cfr the Devon-Somerset-Dorset diffusion of Otton in 1881: http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Map.aspx?name=OTTON&year=1881&altyear=1998&country=GB&type=name
with the practically overlapping (but much wider) diffusion of Churchill in 1881: http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Map.aspx?name=CHURCHILL&year=1881&altyear=1998&country=GB&type=name
Indeed Churchill is a family name from Dorset/Devon.

I have found myself, on the Otton side, a Thomas Moriah Otton, dead bef. 2 May 1767, who was a Devonshire mariner and ship-owner, also in London. He had two children: Thomas Moriah Otton born 25 June 1757 in Dorset (perfect!), & Nathaniel Churchill (yes!) Otton, born 11 January 1760. The Thomas M. Otton who was born in 1757 was a ship surgeon in London, in 1779.
He had six children:

Thomas Walpole Otton, b. 23 Apr 1783;

Thomas Otton, b. 9 Sep 1787;

Catherine Otton, b. 9 Sep 1787;

Elizabeth Otton, b. 11 Jun 1789;

Ralph Churchill (again!!) Otton, b. c 1791, d. 17 Apr 1847;

Thomas Moriah Otton Jr., b. 20 Aug 1793.

I nevertheless fear all of this could lead us off track.

 

I've found «Registered Parliamentarian» is probably an American thing that doen't exist in the UK; the «T.O. Churchill R.P.» I found probably meant something else (I don't know what).

Stay in touch,

g

 

 

*Lord Chesterfield, a Londoner educated at Cambridge, told the lexicographer Samuel Johnson that he rhymed the word «great» with «state»; William Yonge, who was born in Colydon, Devon, communicated to Johnson he rhymed «great» with «seat». Lounsbury reported that one of the changes T. O. Churchill made to Sheridan's Dictionary was making the pronunciation of the word «great» as it rhymed with «seat».

Thankyou again, I've added another paragraph to the entry for Churchill and as you will see Thomas Moriah Otton the mariner whose will was proved 1767 had married Catharine Churchill in 1750, so the one you call (perfect!) was very probably the translator and Godwin's friend. Why he adopted his mother's maiden name I 'm not sure

Comment edited by Ed Pope

Thank you!
I retrieved the information from http://www.gordonbanks.com/gordon/family/2nd_Site/geb-p/p41.htm
Vide http://www.gordonbanks.com/gordon/family/2nd_Site/geb-p/p41.htm#i1220 & passim.
 

Occupation*    21 May 1762     Weymouth, Devon, England, Ship owner: Lloyd's Evening Post and British Chronicle, (London, England), Friday, May 21, 1762; Issue 758
The John and Catherine, Otton, of Weymouth, is arrived at Dover from South Carolina ; who on the 27th of April in lat 41.9 N lon 58.20 W spoke with the Everton, Ashburn, from Liverpool to Virginia, all well on board. She came out with the last fleet, but put back, and sailed again the last of March.3
Occupation    3 August 1762     Ship owner: Gazetteer and London Daily Advertiser (London, England), Tuesday, August 3, 1762; Issue 10383

The Daily List of Shipping—Ships cleared outward, July 31

“John and Catherine, Thomas Moriah Otton, for Madiera and the West Indies”3
Occupation    21 January 1764     Ship owner: London Evening Post (London, England), Saturday, January 21, 1764; Issue 5651

Country news- Liverpool, Jan 20

“The brig, John and Catherine, Otton, from Oporto, laden with wine, fruit, and Corkwood, was wrecked on Friday last on Formby sands, at the entrance of this harbor: the ship’s crew. And 130 pipes of wine were saved, and 51 pipes were lost. The vessel has since gone to pieces.”4
    
Children        

    Thomas Moriah Otton+1 b. 25 Jun 1757
    Nathaniel Churchill Otton1 b. 11 Jan 1760

Baptism*    25 June 1757     St. Mary's Parish Church, Melcombe Regis, Dorset, England2

Marriage*    say 1782     Principal=Elizabeth Bucking
Occupation*    19 August 1779     London, London, England, ship's surgeon3
License*    19 August 1779     Court of Examiners, London, Middlesex, England3

Family
    Elizabeth Bucking b. c 1761
Children        

    Thomas Walpole Otton1 b. 23 Apr 1783
    Thomas Otton1 b. 9 Sep 1787
    Catherine Otton1 b. 9 Sep 1787
    Elizabeth Otton4 b. 11 Jun 1789
    Ralph Churchill Otton+1,5 b. c 1791, d. 17 Apr 1847
    Thomas Moriah Otton Jr.1,6 b. 20 Aug 1793

Giacomo