Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/King, Richard (1748-1810)
KING, RICHARD (1748–1810), divine, born on 30 Nov. 1748, was son of Henry King of St. Augustine, Bristol. He was admitted scholar of Winchester in 1762 (Kirby, Winchester Scholars, p. 258), matriculated at Oxford from Queen's College on 4 April 1767, and was elected fellow of New College in 1768, graduating B.A. in 1772, and M.A. in 1776 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, ii. 796). In 1782 he resigned his fellowship, receiving the college livings of Worthen, Shropshire, and Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire. He died at the latter place on 30 Oct. 1810 (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxx. pt. ii. p. 589).
King wrote: 1. ‘A Discourse on the Inspiration of the Scriptures,’ 8vo, London, 1805. 2. ‘Remarks on the Alliance between Church and State, and on the Test Laws,’ 8vo, London, 1807. 3. ‘Brother Abraham's Answer to Peter Plymley [i.e. to the “Letters on the subject of the Catholics to my brother Abraham, who lives in the Country,” by Sydney Smith] … in two Letters; to which is prefixed a “Postliminious” Preface,’ 8vo, London, 1808.
On 17 Aug. 1782 he married Frances Elizabeth, third daughter of Sir Francis Bernard, bart. [q. v.]
His wife, Frances Elizabeth King, was born on 25 July 1757. After the death of her husband she resided at Gateshead, Durham, so as to be near her two married daughters, and died there on 23 Dec. 1821 (Gent. Mag. vol. xcii. pt. i. p. 90). An intimate friend of Hannah More, she established under her guidance societies for visiting the sick poor and schools for their children. To the ‘Reports’ issued by the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, under the editorship of her brother, Sir Thomas Bernard [q. v.], she contributed many papers. Her other writings are: 1. ‘A Tour in France,’ 12mo, London, 1803. 2. ‘The Beneficial Effects of the Christian Temper on Domestic Happiness,’ 2nd edit. 8vo, London, 1807; 6th edit. 1825. 3. ‘Female Scripture Characters; exemplifying Female Virtues,’ 16mo, London, 1813; 10th edit. 1826, to which her portrait, engraved by Scriven after Hastings, is prefixed. 4. ‘The Rector's Memorandum Book, being Memoirs of a Family in the North’ [anon.], 12mo, London, 1814 (and 1819). Her portrait was also engraved by Woolnoth.
[Memoir prefixed to Mrs. King's Female Scripture Characters, 3rd edit.; Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, ii. 233.]