Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Prideaux, Frederick
PRIDEAUX, FREDERICK (1817–1891), conveyancer, fifth son of Walter Prideaux of Plymouth, by Sarah, daughter of Joseph Kingston of Kingsbridge, Devonshire, was born at No. 1 Portland Square, Plymouth, on 27 April 1817. His father, a partner in the private bank of Kingston & Prideaux (since converted into the Plymouth and Devonport Bank), was a collateral descendant of Humphrey Prideaux [q. v.], dean of Norwich, but was bred a quaker. Frederick Prideaux was educated at the Plymouth grammar school, at a private school at Egloshayle, near Wadebridge, Cornwall, and under a private tutor. He was instructed in law by his elder brother, Walter Prideaux, of the firm of Lane & Prideaux, solicitors, London, and by the eminent quaker conveyancer, John Hodgkin. On 26 May 1834 he was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 27 Jan. 1840. After practising for some years in London, he removed to Bath in 1858, but returned to London in 1865, and in 1866 obtained the post of reader in real and personal property to the Inns of Court, which he resigned in consequence of ill-health in 1875. He afterwards resided successively at Torquay, Gatcombe, and Taunton, where he died on 21 Nov. 1891. In early manhood Prideaux abandoned quakerism for the church of England, but in later life became attached to the Baptist society.
Prideaux was author of:
- ‘Law of Judgments and Crown Debts as they affect Real Property,’ London, 1842, 8vo; 4th edition 1854.
- ‘Handbook of Precedents in Conveyancing,’ London, 1852, 8vo; 2nd edition, under the title ‘Precedents in Conveyancing, with Dissertations on its Law and Practice,’ 1856; 4th edition, in which he was assisted by John Whitcombe, esq., 1864, 2 vols. 8vo. Successive editions of this standard work appeared at intervals throughout Prideaux's life; the fifteenth edition, by Mr. Whitcombe, in 1893, 2 vols. 8vo, and the sixteenth edition, by Messrs. Whitcombe and Horsburgh, in 1895, 2 vols. 8vo.
He married at Clifton, on 14 April 1853, Fanny Ash, second daughter of Richard Ball of Portland House, Kingsdown, Gloucestershire, who survived him, and died at Taunton in September 1894. Mrs. Prideaux was a poetess of some merit. Her works, all of which were published in London, are: 1. ‘Claudia,’ a story in blank verse, the scene of which is laid in Rome in the time of the Emperor Claudius, 1865, 8vo. 2. ‘The Nine Days' Queen,’ a dramatic poem founded on the history of Lady Jane Grey, 1869, 8vo. 3. ‘Philip Molesworth and other Poems,’ 1886, 8vo. 4. ‘Basil the Iconoclast,’ a drama of modern Russia, 1892, 8vo.
[In Memoriam F. P., by Mrs. Prideaux (printed for private circulation), 1891; Athenæum, 18 Sept. 1894.]