Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Loggon, Samuel

by William Arthur Jobson Archbold

LOGGON, SAMUEL (1712–1778?), writer, son of William Loggon of Herefordshire, was born in 1712. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 23 Jan. 1729-1730, graduated B.A. in 1733, and proceeded M.A. in 1736. He became curate of Estrop and Sherborne St. John, near Basingstoke, and on 15 Oct. 1740 was elected usher of the free school of the Holy Ghost at Basingstoke. In 1743 he became curate of Stratfield Turgis in Hampshire, and on 18 July 1743, through the influence of Lord Portsmouth with the lord chancellor, he was appointed master of the free school of the Holy Ghost by letters patent. This ancient foundation was at the time in a ruinous condition, and in 1743 Loggon had the estate surveyed, and suggested means for its improvement in a letter to John Russell, the town clerk of Basingstoke. He presented in 1744 a petition on the subject to Lord Hardwicke, and as he alleged that the corporation wrongfully withheld certain of the property, he treated the town council with insolence. On 7 Oct. 1745 the town clerk was authorised to take proceedings against him for neglecting his duties as schoolmaster, but as the inhabitants generally sided with Loggon nothing was done. On 16 Dec. 1746 he was instituted to the rectory of Stratfield Turgis, which he resigned in November 1748 on being presented to the vicarage of Damerham in Wiltshire by George Pitt of Strathfieldsaye, afterwards Lord Rivers. He died, unmarried, at Basingstoke about 1778, and was buried by his own desire, in a sawpit, in the churchyard of Strathfield Turgis.

Loggon was eccentric in his habits, wore two shirts, and drank stale beer. He collected a large number of manuscripts, which he offered to the corporation of Basingstoke if they would give him a piece of plate, but they declined the offer on this condition; the manuscripts passed to his nephew. He wrote:

1. ‘The History of the Brotherhood or Guild of the Holy Ghost in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost near Basingstoke,’ Reading, 1742, 8vo; dedicated to Lord Hardwicke, with the suggestion that the author was a suitable person for the mastership. It was incorporated in a work on the same subject published anonymously at Basingstoke in 1819.
2. ‘M. Corderii Colloquia,’ a very popular school-book, which reached a fourth edition, London, 1759, 8vo; 21st edition, London, 1830, 8vo.

[Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886; Braigent and Millard's Hist. of Basingstoke; Loggon's Works.]

W. A. J. A.