Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Nicholas Amhurst
Nicholas Amhurst,
Poet and Political Writer,
Was born at Marden 16th October, 1697. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, and subsequently at Oxford, whence, however, he was expelled for misconduct, according to the authorities, but by his own account, by reason of his Whig principles, or, as he humorously puts it in the dedication to his poems, for "loving foreign turnips and Presbyterian Bishops, for believing that steeples and organs are not necessary to salvation," etc. On his expulsion he settled in London, and adopted literature as his profession. In 1721 he began a series of papers under the title of "Terræ Filius," dealing chiefly with life at Oxford in his day, and valuable on that account. In 1720 he published a volume of poems, but the literary adventure with which his name is most closely associated is the establishment of the "Craftsman," the most successful political periodical of the day. For a suspected libel in this paper he was arrested and kept in custody some days, an event which caused great excitement at the time. His last days were unfortunate, and spent in poverty and distress. He died at Twickenham 12th April, 1742.
[Details of his life will be found in "Cibber's Lives of the Poets," "Gentlemen's Magazine," vol. 7, "Wilson's History of Merchant Taylors' School."]