[1] At fourteen years of age, he gave sign of precocious talent in an heroic poem, the "Brutæis", illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings (not printed).
[1] Subsequently, the family inherited the small estate of their ancestor, John Butcher, vicar of Feering, Essex, about 1657.
[1] He entered Daventry Academy, under Thomas Belsham, in 1783, having previously received some classical training from Richard Wright, Presbyterian minister at Atherstone.
[1] His first settlement was at Sowerby, near Halifax, but he soon moved to London, where Worthington got him temporary engagements at Monkwell Street and Carter Lane.
Here he remained till 1820, building a house on a piece of ground presented to him by a member of a wealthy Jewish family, who attended his services.
[2] He married, 6 July 1790, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Lawrence, a Shropshire landowner, and widow of Samuel Lowe; she died at Bath 25 November 1831.