Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Poole, George Ayliffe

1194814Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 46 — Poole, George Ayliffe1896Edward George Hawke

POOLE, GEORGE AYLIFFE (1809–1883), divine and author, was born in 1809, and educated at Cambridge, where he was a scholar of Emmanuel College. He graduated B.A. in 1831, and proceeded M.A. in 1838 (Luard, Grad. Cantabr. p. 415). He took holy orders in 1832, and was curate successively of Twickenham, of St. John the Evangelist, Edinburgh, and of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury. On 16 March 1839 he was appointed perpetual curate of St. James's, Leeds (Foster, Index Eccl. p. 142). In 1843 he was presented to the vicarage of Welford, Northamptonshire, which he held until, in 1876, he was presented by the bishop of Peterborough to the rectory of Winwick, near Rugby, in the same county. He acted for a few years as rural dean of the district. He died at Winwick 25 Sept. 1883, having married a daughter of Jonathan Wilks of St. Ann's, Burley.

He was a strong high churchman; but the work of his life was to promote the revival of Gothic architecture, and, next to John Henry Parker and M. H. Bloxam, he was the most prominent among the literary advocates of this movement. He was, besides, a prolific writer on other subjects. His works, excluding various sermons and tracts, were: 1. ‘The Exile's Return; or a Cat's Journey from Glasgow to Edinburgh,’ a tale for children, Edinburgh, 1837, 12mo. 2. ‘The Testimony of St. Cyprian against Rome,’ London, 1838, 8vo. 3. ‘The Anglo-Catholic Use of Two Lights upon the Altar, for the signification that Christ is the very true Light of the World, stated and defended,’ London, 1840, 8vo. 4. ‘The Life and Times of St. Cyprian,’ Oxford, 1840, 8vo. 5. ‘On the present State of Parties in the Church of England, with especial reference to the alleged tendencies of the Oxford School to the Doctrines and Communion of Rome,’ London, 1841, 8vo. 6. ‘The Appropriate Character of Church Architecture,’ Leeds, 1842, 8vo; reissued in 1845 as ‘Churches: their Structure, Arrangement, and Decoration,’ London, 12mo. 7. ‘Churches of Yorkshire,’ described and edited (with others), 1842, 8vo. 8. ‘A History of the Church in America’ (part of vol. ii. of ‘The Christian's Miscellany’), Leeds, 1842, 8vo. 9. ‘A History of England, from the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of Queen Victoria,’ London, 1844–1845, 2 vols. 12mo. 10. ‘The Churches of Scarborough, Filey, and the Neighbourhood,’ London, 1848, 16mo (in collaboration with J. W. Hugall). 11. ‘A History of Ecclesiastical Architecture in England,’ London, 1848, 8vo. 12. ‘Sir Raoul de Broc and his Son Tristram,’ a tale of the twelfth century, London, 1849, 16mo. 13. ‘An historical and descriptive Guide to York Cathedral’ (with Hugall), York, 1850, 8vo. 14. ‘Architectural, historical, and picturesque Illustrations of the Chapel of St. Augustine, Skirlaugh, Yorkshire’ (edited by Poole), Hull, 1855, 8vo. 15. ‘Diocesan History of Peterborough,’ London, 1880, 8vo.

[Times, 28 Sept. 1883; Guardian, 3 Oct. 1883; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, January 1884; Poole's Works.]

E. G. H.

Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.226
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line

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96 ii 20 Poole, George A.: after 1883. insert He married a daughter of Jonathan Wilks, of Ann's, Burley.