Thomas Percy

Thomas Percy (April 13, 1729 - September 30, 1811) was Bishop of Dromore, County Down, Ireland. Before becoming a bishop, he was chaplain of George III of the United Kingdom. Percy's greatest contribution is his Relics of Old English Poetry (1765), the first of the great collections of ballads, which was one of the most responsible works for the revival of ballads in English poetry, which was a significant part of the romantic movement. He was born as Thomas Percy in Bridgnorth, the son of Arthur Low Percy, a grocer and farmer from Sifnal, who sent Thomas to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1746, after studying first at Bridgnorth High School, and then at neighboring Adams High School in local Newport. He graduated in 1750 and received a master's degree in 1753. Last year, he was appointed to the post of priest Easton Modit, Northamptonshire, and three years later he was appointed to Priest Wilby in the same county, the benefits that he retained until 1782. 1759 he married Anna, daughter of Barton Gatterridge.