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Richard Pococke

English-born churchman, travel writer and Church of Ireland bishop (1704-1765)

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ1291915
Source-derived summary

Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765) was an English clergyman and writer. He was the Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church of Ireland. However, he is best known for his travel writings and diaries.

Early life

Pococke was born in 1704 in Southampton, into a family of Church of England clergymen. His father was the Reverend Richard Pococke, and his mother, born Elizabeth Milles, or Mills, was a daughter of Rev. Isaac Milles the younger, the son of Rev. Isaac Milles (1638–1720). His parents had been married on 26 April 1698. Pococke’s paternal grandfather was also a priest, and one of his uncles was Thomas Milles, Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, soon to become Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland. He was also distantly related to Edward Pococke, the English Orientalist and biblical scholar.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Richard Pococke” is english-born churchman, travel writer and Church of Ireland bishop (1704-1765). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Richard, Pococke and English-born, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1704, 1765, 1756, 1638—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1704-11-19. For this dossier, Richard, Pococke and English-born is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “english-born churchman, travel writer and Church of Ireland bishop (1704-1765)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1291915. VIAF identifies the subject as 54245430. The Library of Congress control number is nr91021516. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1704, 1765, 1756 and 1638.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Richard Pococke”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Richard Pococke primary sources, Richard Pococke archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Richard Pococke”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Richard Pococke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.