Joseph Kingston of Kingsbridge, Devonshire, was born at No. 1 Portland Square, Plymouth, on 27 April 1817. His father, a partner in the private bank of Kingston & Prideaux (since converted into the Plymouth and Devonport Bank), was a collateral descendant of Humphrey Prideaux [q. v.], dean of Norwich, but was bred a quaker. Frederick Prideaux was educated at the Plymouth grammar school, at a private school at Egloshayle, near Wadebridge, Cornwall, and under a private tutor. He was instructed in law by his elder brother, Walter Prideaux, of the firm of Lane & Prideaux, solicitors, London, and by the eminent quaker conveyancer, John Hodgkin. On 26 May 1834 he was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 27 Jan. 1840. After practising for some years in London, he removed to Bath in 1858, but returned to London in 1865, and in 1866 obtained the post of reader in real and personal property to the Inns of Court, which he resigned in consequence of ill-health in 1875. He afterwards resided successively at Torquay, Gatcombe, and Taunton, where he died on 21 Nov. 1891. In early manhood Prideaux abandoned quakerism for the church of England, but in later life became attached to the Baptist society.
Prideaux was author of:
- ‘Law of Judgments and Crown Debts as they affect Real Property,’ London, 1842, 8vo; 4th edition 1854.
- ‘Handbook of Precedents in Conveyancing,’ London, 1852, 8vo; 2nd edition, under the title ‘Precedents in Conveyancing, with Dissertations on its Law and Practice,’ 1856; 4th edition, in which he was assisted by John Whitcombe, esq., 1864, 2 vols. 8vo. Successive editions of this standard work appeared at intervals throughout Prideaux's life; the fifteenth edition, by Mr. Whitcombe, in 1893, 2 vols. 8vo, and the sixteenth edition, by Messrs. Whitcombe and Horsburgh, in 1895, 2 vols. 8vo.
He married at Clifton, on 14 April 1853, Fanny Ash, second daughter of Richard Ball of Portland House, Kingsdown, Gloucestershire, who survived him, and died at Taunton in September 1894. Mrs. Prideaux was a poetess of some merit. Her works, all of which were published in London, are: 1. ‘Claudia,’ a story in blank verse, the scene of which is laid in Rome in the time of the Emperor Claudius, 1865, 8vo. 2. ‘The Nine Days' Queen,’ a dramatic poem founded on the history of Lady Jane Grey, 1869, 8vo. 3. ‘Philip Molesworth and other Poems,’ 1886, 8vo. 4. ‘Basil the Iconoclast,’ a drama of modern Russia, 1892, 8vo.
[In Memoriam F. P., by Mrs. Prideaux (printed for private circulation), 1891; Athenæum, 18 Sept. 1894.]
PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY, D.D. (1648–1724), orientalist, third son of Edmond Prideaux, was born at Padstow, Cornwall, on 3 May 1648. His mother was a daughter of John Moyle (1592?–1661) [q. v.] After preliminary education at the local grammar schools of Liskeard and Bodmin, he proceeded to Westminster school under Richard Busby [q. v.] On 11 Dec. 1668 he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he had obtained a studentship. He graduated B.A. 22 June 1672, M.A. 29 April 1675, B.D. 15 Nov. 1682, D.D. 8 June 1686. At the university he was distinguished for scholarship. John Fell, D.D. [q. v.], employed him in 1672 in annotating an edition of ‘Florus;’ he was asked to edit the chronicle of John Malelas, but thought it not worth his labour. In 1676 he issued an account of the Arundelian marbles, which secured him the patronage of Heneage Finch, first Earl of Nottingham [q. v.] In 1677 he obtained the sinecure rectory of Llandewy-Velfrey, Pembrokeshire. In 1679 Finch presented him to the rectory of St. Clement's, Oxford, which he held till 1696. He was appointed also, in 1679, Busby's Hebrew lecturer in Christ Church College. Finch gave him in 1681 a canonry at Norwich, and Sir Francis North in February 1683 presented him to the rectory of Bladon, Oxfordshire, which included the chapelry of Woodstock. He still retained his studentship at Christ Church, as he was acting as unsalaried librarian.
Prideaux left Oxford for Norwich on James II's appointment (October 1686) of John Massey [q. v.], a Roman catholic, as dean of Christ Church. He exchanged (1686) Bladon for the rectory of Saham-Toney, Norfolk, which he held till 1694. He at once engaged in controversy with Roman catholics, especially on the point of the validity of Anglican orders. As canon of Norwich his business capacity was very apparent; he improved the financial arrangements of the chapter, and put the records in order. In December 1688 he was made archdeacon of Suffolk by his bishop, William Lloyd (1637–1710) [q. v.], an office which he held till 1694. Though Lloyd became a nonjuror, Prideaux exerted himself at his archidiaconal visitation (May 1689) to secure the taking of the oaths; out of three hundred parishes in his archdeaconry only three clergymen became nonjurors. At the convocation which opened on 21 Nov. 1689 Prideaux was an advocate for changes in the prayer-book,
