Charles Churchill

Born in London in 1731, Charles Churchill was the son of a clergyman and was educated at Westminster School. He was ordained in the Church of England, but his lasting reputation came from poetry rather than parish life.

Churchill rose quickly to fame in the early 1760s as a satirist. His verse took aim at the theater, public figures, and the moral posturing of his day, and readers responded to its wit, force, and conversational style. He was closely associated with the politician John Wilkes, and his writing became part of the wider political and literary battles of the period.

He died in 1764, at just 32 years old, but in a very short career he became one of the best-known satirical poets of his age. His work offers a lively glimpse of Georgian Britain: combative, funny, and deeply engaged with the public life around him.