Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/75

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Pollock
69
Pollok

ciety, of which he was elected a fellow in 1816, he communicated three mathematical papers (Philosophical Transactions, vol. cxliv. No. xiv., vol. cxlix. No. iii., and vol. cli. pt. i. No. xxi.). He was also F.S.A. and F.G.S.

Pollock died of old age at his seat, Hatton, Middlesex, on 23 Aug. 1870. His remains were interred (29 Aug.) in Hanworth cemetery.

Pollock married twice. By his first wife, Frances, daughter of Francis Rivers of London (m. 25 May 1813; d 27 Jan. 1827) he had issue six sons and five daughters; by his second wife, Sarah Anne Amowah, second daughter of Captain Richard Langslow of Hatton, Middlesex (m. 7 Jan. 1834), he had issue two sons and five daughters [cf. Martin, Sir Samuel, ad fin.] He was succeeded in title by his eldest son, Sir William Frederick Pollock [q. v.] His fourth son, Sir Charles Edward Pollock, is a baron of the exchequer.

[Cambridge Univ. Cal. 1804–1810; Grad. Cant.; Foster's Baronetage; Times, 24 Aug. 1870; Law Journal, 2 Sept. 1870; Law Times, 27 Aug. 1870; Gent. Mag. 1866, pt. ii. 393; Ann. Reg. 1870 (Obituary); Gardiner's Register of St. Paul's School; Jerdan's Reminiscences; Pryme's Autobiographic Recollections, pp. 54, 183, 341, 373; Ballantine's Experiences of a Barrister's Life, p. 154; Crabb Robinson's Diary; Pollock's Personal Reminiscences, 1887; Lord Kingsdown's Recollections, pp. 24, 100, 115; Duke of Buckingham's Cabinets of William IV and Victoria, ii. 150, 412; Foss's Judges of England; Haydn's Book of Dignities, ed. Ockerby.]

J. M. R.

POLLOCK, Sir WILLIAM FREDERICK (1815–1888), queen's remembrancer and author, eldest son of Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock [q. v.] by his first wife, was born on 13 April 1815. He was educated under private tutors, at St. Paul's School, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a scholarship in 1835, graduated B.A. in 1836, and proceeded M.A. in 1840. Although of junior standing to Tennyson, he was a member of the little society whose debates are celebrated in ‘In Memoriam’ (lxxxvi).

Pollock was called to the bar at the Inner Temple on 26 Jan. 1838, and went the northern circuit, in which he held for some years the post of revising barrister. He was appointed a master of the court of exchequer in 1846, and in 1874 to the ancient office of queen's remembrancer. On the fusion of the courts of law and equity in the supreme court of judicature (1875) the office of queen's remembrancer was annexed to the senior mastership, and continued to be held by Pollock until September 1886, when he resigned. He died at his residence in Montague Square on 24 Dec. 1888.

Pollock married, on 30 March 1844, Juliet, daughter of the Rev. Henry Creed, vicar of Corse, Gloucestershire; of his three sons, the eldest, Sir Frederick Pollock, bart., editor of the Law Reports, was Corpus professor of jurisprudence at Oxford (1883–1903).

Pollock was a man of liberal culture and rare social charm. His entertaining ‘Personal Remembrances,’ which he published in 1887, show how various were his accomplishments, and how numerous his friendships in the world of letters, science, and art. He was one of Macready's executors, and edited his ‘Reminiscences’ (London, 1876, 2 vols. 8vo). His portrait was painted by W. W. Ouless, R.A.

Pollock was author of ‘The Divine Comedy; or the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante rendered into English’ (in closely literal blank verse, with fine plates by Dalziel from drawings by George, afterwards Sir George, Scharf [q. v.], mostly after Flaxman), London, 1854, 8vo.

[Grad. Cant.; Foster's Baronetage; Times, 20 Aug. 1886, 25 Dec. 1888; Law Journal, 29 Dec. 1888; Personal Remembrances of Sir Frederick Pollock, second bart., 1887, 2 vols.]

J. M. R.

POLLOK, ROBERT (1798–1827), poet, son of a small farmer, and seventh of a family of eight, was born at North Moorhouse, in the parish of Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, on 19 Oct. 1798. In 1805 the family settled at Mid Moorhouse, about a quarter of a mile from their previous residence, and this is the Moorhouse of Pollok's letters. He received his elementary education at South Longlee, a neighbouring farm, and at Mearns parish school, Renfrewshire, where, by excessive indulgence in athletic exercise, he permanently weakened his health. In the spring of 1815 he tried cabinet-making under his brother-in-law, but relinquished the trade after constructing four chairs. Pollok worked on his father's farm till the autumn of 1815, when he and his elder brother, David, decided to become secession ministers, and were prepared for the university at the parish school of Fenwick, Ayrshire. Pollok's general reading had already embraced the works of various standard English poets, and he began poetical composition, specially affecting blank verse.

In 1817 Pollok went to Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1822. He was a good student, gaining distinction in logic and moral philosophy. He read widely; composed many verses; founded a college literary