Sterling James

Background

James was born in 1701 at Dowrass, Kings County, Ireland, the son of James Sterling, a half-pay captain of the British army.

Education

He was graduated (B. A. ) from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1720, and much later, in 1733, proceeded to the M. A. degree in that institution.

Career

His literary career began with the publication in London in 1722 of the Rival Generals, a play with which the author claimed he "first awak'd the Irish Muse to Tragedy. " The Parricide (1736) had a short run at Goodman's Fields, but neither this nor the earlier play sufficed to bring him the fame he sought as dramatist.

He was not more fortunate as a lyric poet with his translation from Musaeus, The Loves of Hero and Leander (1728), and the Poetical Works of the Rev. James Sterling (1734). No trace remains of the political writing he is reputed to have done for the Opposition in these years, unless it be found in the favor with which certain proposals of his were met by eminent members of the party after they had come into office.

About 1733 he entered Holy Orders and became a regimental chaplain, and it was probably just before this time that he lost his first wife, who had been a popular and accomplished Dublin actress. A few years after ordination his attention was turned toward service in the colonies by his "near relation, " Robert Auchmuty.

He published in 1755, in Annapolis and in London, an Assembly sermon, entitled in its English edition, Zeal against the Enemies of our Country Pathetically Recommended, a vigorous and well-informed piece of propaganda directed against the French aggression in America.

Before returning to America in 1752, he obtained appointment as collector of customs at Chester, a customs district created by the treasury upon his unsupported recommendation that it was needed for the protection and development of the "Maryland Trade. "

This need was denied and his appointment opposed by Governor Sharpe, the Maryland customs officials, and a strong group of London merchants trading with Maryland, but despite their continuous opposition his influence at the treasury remained strong enough to keep him in office as long as he lived. His literary efforts seem to have come to an end with the publication of a group of poems, not all clearly identified, in the American Magazine, established in 1757 by William Smith, 1727-1803.

The poetical epitaph and the eulogy of Sterling published in the Maryland Gazette (Annapolis) for November 17, 1763, indicate that he had gained the affection of his neighbors in the same degree that he had impressed them with his varied and exceptional abilities.

He died in 1763.

Achievements

• James Sterling took the King's Bounty for Maryland, where he held successively the rectorships of All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County, of St. Ann's, Annapolis, and of St. Paul's, Kent County. Inducted to the last of these on August 26, 1740, he remained its rector until his death in 1763. He was the author of a long poem of 1600 lines with the incongruous title, An Epistle to the Hon. Arthur Dobbs.

Views

He held a conviction that the future greatness of Britain was wrapped up in the development of her American colonies.

Connections

On September 19, 1743, he was married to Rebecca (Hynson) Holt, the widow of a fellow clergyman; their daughter, Rebecca, became the wife of William Carmichael. After his second wife's death he was married, on September 7, 1749, to Mary Smith. Both of these wives were women of property and position.

Wife:

Mary Smith

Wife:

Rebecca (Hynson) Holt

father:

James Sterling

References

• James Sterling: Poet, Priest, and Prophet of Empire