Thomas Alcock

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Thomas Alcock (1709 - 24 August 1798) was a clergyman in the Church of England, a pluralist and an author.

He was born in Runcorn, Cheshire. He matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1728, proceeded B.A. in 1731 and M.A. in 1741. He was instituted as vicar of Runcorn in 1756 and was a Cheshire J.P. However he spent most of his time in Devon where he was licensed as curate of Stonehouse, Plymouth in 1731. In November 1732 he began acting as the minister of nearby parish of St Budeaux to which he was officially licensed on 29 December 1733. Through his marriage to Mary Harwood of Ernesettle, Plymouth he obtained considerable property locally.

He became popular when he ceased to collect tithes. He was also noted for his eccentric habits, his spartan lifestyle, and his kindness to the poor to whom he also acted as doctor and lawyer. In 1771 he helped to purchase land at Weston Peverel to provide a master for the St Budeaux charity school and to clothe the poor. In 1769 he was granted the freedom of the borough of Plymouth.

Thomas Alcock farmed at Ernesettle and described himself as ‘A Cydermaker’. He attacked the excise duty on cider and this was repealed in 1766. It had been suggested that a severe colic peculiar to Devon was the result of lead poisoning from the presses, pipework, and storage vessels of cider. This was refuted by Alcock who argued that the colic resulted only from the small shot used in bottle cleansing.

After the death of his brother Nathan in 1779, Thomas produced Some Memoirs of the Life of Dr Nathan. In 1796 he also edited and arranged for the publication of Nathan's The Rise of Mahomet, Accounted for on Natural and Civil Principles. Thomas Alcock died at Runcorn in 1798.

[edit] Publications

• Observations on the Defects of the Poor Laws (1752)
• Remarks on Two Bills for the Better Maintenance of the Poor (1752)
• Observations on that Part of the Late Act of Parliament which Lays an Additional Duty on Cider (1763)
• Cursory Remarks on Dr. Baker's Essay on the Endemial Colic in Devon (1767)
• The Endemial Colic of Devon not Caused by a Solution of Lead in the Cyder (1769)

[edit] References

• Nickson, Charles History of Runcorn, Mackie & Co., London and Warrington, 1887.
• Starkey, H. F. Old Runcorn, Halton Borough Council, 1990.
• Woodland, Patrick, ‘Alcock, Thomas (1709–1798)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [1], accessed 1 March 2007