Francis Peck

Francis Peck (1692–1743) was an English priest of the Church of England and antiquary, best known for his Desiderata Curiosa (1732–1735).

After a curacy at King's Cliffe, Northamptonshire, he served as Rector of Goadby Marwood, Leicestershire, from 1723 until his death.

In 1727 he published a history of Stamford called Academia Tertia Anglicana (Latin for 'the third English university' - a reference to the 14th-century Oxford schism in the town).

He was elected to the Society of Antiquarians in 1732[4] and corresponded with many of the leading antiquaries and historians of the age; including Thomas Hearne, Browne Willis, Roger and Samuel Gale, and William Stukeley.

With many Notes from his own MS. Diary, and other Authors [together with 29 other tracts named on the title-pages and] many other Memoirs, Letters, Wills, and Epitaphs; amounting in all to above 150 curious Articles; all now published from original MSS.