William Bickerstaffe

He was a well known character in his home county of Leicestershire, remembered for his humour and charity, with several of his letters printed posthumously in The Gentleman's Magazine and John Nichols' historical works, because of their perceived quaintness.

[3] He was described in his obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine as having "occasionally been curate at most of the churches in his native town", while also having worked in the nearby parishes of Aylestone and Wigston Magna.

[1][2] Later in his life, when struck by his impoverished situation, Bickerstaffe loosed a succession of appeals to local parishes, asking for preferment to recently vacated offices in their churches, as they came available.

[2] These letters where reprinted, both in The Gentleman's Magazine[4] and Nichols' History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester (1795); the editors saw the communications as a curiosities and apparently printed them "for their quaintness".

[1][5] He used his (admittedly limited) medical knowledge to help the ill in his parishes, and donated the small surplus that came of his wages to local charitable causes.

[1][5] On 26 January 1789, at the age of sixty-one, William Bickerstaffe died unexpectedly in his sleep; he was reportedly in good health the previous day.

Mark'd the progression of his quiet days: Yet let this monumental tablet tell That praise, which living he deserv'd so well; His joys were, Nature’s sorrows to relieve, He gave the needy all he had to give.