Edward Rolle

Edward Rolle (27 April 1703 – 30 June 1791), known as the Captain or Captain Rolle, was an English author, poet, and Anglican vicar. Rolle was one of a little group of New College men whose essays in verse enjoyed a temporary existence in miscellany, including fellow Wykehamists Christopher Pitt, Edward Young, and Joseph Spence. Early life and education Edward Rolle was born on 27 April 1703 and baptised on 7 May 1703 in Meeth, Devon. He was the youngest son of Robert Rolle of Meeth, a great-great grandson of George Rolle and member of the wealthy Rolle family of Devon, and Margaret, daughter of John Martyn, who married in 1699. Rolle attended Winchester College and matriculated from New College, Oxford on 10 July 1723; he was a fellow of New College from 1723 to 1755. Rolle earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1727, his Master of Arts in 1730, and his Bachelor of Divinity in 1758. While at New College, he held a sermon on The Rights of Primogeniture in the New College Chapel, as mentioned in John Mulso's Letters to Gilbert White. The younger of the two, Rolle acted, more than once, as Joseph Spence's deputy in the Poetry-Professorship at Oxford.