and died unmarried at Middle Aston on 24 Nov. 1803. Soon after his death the Middle Aston estate, which had been purchased by his great-uncle about 1710, was sold to Sir Clement Cottrell Dormer, and the house in which the judge had lived was pulled down.
Page is said to have written ‘various political pamphlets’ in his early days at the bar (Granger, ed. Noble, iii. 203), but of these no traces can be found. His judgments and charges seem to have been remarkable more for the poverty of their language than for anything else. ‘The charge of J——P——to the Grand Jury of M——x, on Saturday May 22, 1736’ (London, 1738, 8vo), a copy of which is in the library of the British Museum, is probably a satire. There are engravings of Page by Vertue, after C. d'Agar, and J. Richardson. The massive silver flagon which Page presented to Steeple Aston Church on his promotion to the bench is still in use there.
[Wing's Annals of Steeple Aston and Middle Aston, 1875; Foss's Judges of England, 1864, viii. 143–6; Luttrell's Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, 1857, v. 518, 524, vi. 20, 118, 510; Historical Register, 1715, Chron. Diary, p. 31, 1718 Chron. Register, p. 22, 1726 Chron. Diary, p. 41, 1727 Chron. Diary, p. 48; Granger's Biogr. Hist. of England, continued by Noble, 1806, iii. 203–5; Hone's Year Book, 1832, pp. 613–14; Pope's Works, ed. Elwin and Courthope, iii. 284–5, 295, 482, iv. 191–2, v. 257–8, ix. 143; Martin's Masters of the Bench of the Inner Temple, 1883, p. 63; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 1056; Official Return of Lists of Members of Parliament. pt. ii. pp. 11, 21, 141, 154, 167, 180, 192, 206; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. i. 13, 153, 237, ii. 383, xii. 401, 6th ser. i. 345, 518, 8th ser. iv. 68, 275, 513, v. 93.]
PAGE, FREDERICK (1769–1834), writer on the poor laws, son of Francis Page of Newbury, Berkshire, born in 1769, matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, on 14 July 1786. Leaving the university without a degree, he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1792, and became a bencher in 1826. His attention was first drawn to the poor laws by the manner in which the poor rate affected his property. Having been assessed to the whole amount of the tolls for the navigation of the Kennet between Reading and Newbury, which were collected by his agent, he appealed to the Berkshire quarter sessions, where the rate was confirmed. The case was tried in the king's bench in 1792, with the same result. Page served as overseer in three different parishes in 1794, 1801, and 1818. He communicated the result of his experience in 1794 to his friend, Sir F. Eden, who inserted it verbatim in his work on the poor laws (State of the Poor, i. 576–87). Subsequently to 1818 Page paid great attention to the administration of the Select Vestries Act, to the principle of which he became a convert after three years' experience. He also repeatedly visited the continent and the southern counties of Ireland to investigate the condition of the poor. He died at Newbury on 8 April 1834.
Page published: 1. ‘Observations on the present State and possible Improvement of the Navigation and Government of the River Thames,’ Reading, 1794, 12mo. 2. ‘The Principle of the English Poor Laws illustrated and defended by an Historical View of Indigence in Civil Society, with Observations and Suggestions relative to their improved Administration,’ Bath, 1822, 8vo; 2nd edit., with additions, London, 1829, 8vo. 3. ‘Observations on the state of the Indigent Poor in Ireland and the existing Institutions for their relief, being a sequel to “the Principle of the English Poor Laws, &c.”’ London, 1830, 8vo.
[Durnford and East's Reports, iv. 543–50; Gent. Mag. 1834 i. 564, ii. 659; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, p. 1056.]
PAGE, JOHN (1760?–1812), vocalist and compiler of musical works, was born about 1760. On 3 Dec. 1790 he was elected lay-clerk of St. George's, Windsor, and retained the post until 1795 (Grove). Page had been connected with St. Paul's Cathedral since about 1785, when he described himself on the title-page of the ‘Anthems’ as conductor of the music for the anniversary meeting of the charity children. On other publications, in 1798 and 1800, he described himself as ‘of St. Paul's.’ On 10 Jan. 1801 he was appointed vicar-choral of St. Paul's. He was a professional member of the Catch Club between 1792 and 1797. He died on 16 Aug. 1812, at 19 Warwick Square, Newgate Street.
Page wrote little if any original music, but was an industrious compiler of ‘Harmonia Sacra’ and other less valuable collections of sacred music. Among his publications are: 1. ‘The Anthems and Psalms as performed at St. Paul's Cathedral on the Day of the Anniversary Meeting of the Charity Children, arranged for the Organ,’ &c., 1785? 2. ‘Divine Harmony,’ psalm and hymn tunes by Henley and Sharp, 1798. 3. ‘Harmonia Sacra,’ anthems in score by masters of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, 1800. 5. ‘Collection of
