Richard WarnerSon of an Italian delicatessen owner in fashionable Bond Street, London, Richard Warner (1763-1857) was sent to a boarding school and later educated at Christchurch Grammar School, where he witnessed large gangs of smugglers landing their contraband n broad daylight on nearby Hengistbury Head. His ambitions for a career in the priesthood were initially thwarted by a failed admission to Winchester College, after which he considered a career in the navy, which his father persuaded him against. He worked for an attorney before matriculating at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, where he failed to graduate. Nevertheless, he was ordained by William Markham, Archbishop of York, at Bishopthorpe. As a clergyman, he wrote numerous books, including travelogues, Gothic fiction, theological pacifist sermons-which caused some controversy-and satirical works on Bath society. Among his friends were William Wordsworth and William Gilpin. Read More Read Less