The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

A literary circle centred in Lammas, Calthorpe, Cromer, and Erpingham, in the county of Norfolk, where William Heath Marsh (fl. 1801-1848) was rector and landowner. Heath was a graduate of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, which may be the source of his connections with the Rev. James Willins, the Rev. Thomas Calthorpe Blofeld (1778-?) and his wife Mary Caroline Grose Blofeld (ca. 1763-?), and the Rev. Jern[ingham?] Ives. Much of Marsh’s poetry is addressed to Mary Blofeld; other coterie members address Marsh together with his wife Mary. In addition to the Willins, Blofeld, and Ives families, the coterie appears to include Diana Lathom, Miss Caroline Symmons, and Mrs. Morse of Sprowston Hall Norfolk.

Mary Caroline Grose Blofeld

  • c1763
Coteries The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

Norfolk-based wife of Rev. Thomas Calthorpe Blofeld and friend of William Heath Marsh, with whom she exchanged poetry.

Thomas Calthorpe Blofeld

  • 1778
Coteries The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

Norfolk-based clergyman and husband of Mary Caroline Grose Blofeld; acquaintance of Rev. William Heath Marsh.

Jern[ingham?] Ives

Coteries The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

Clergyman of Catton Norfolk; author of three poems in his friend William Heath Marsh’s manuscript verse miscellany: “Stranger,” “William and Mary Scene Cromer 1802,” and a tribute to the memory of his mother, Elizabeth Ives.

William Heath Marsh

  • c1773
  • c1848
Coteries The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

Clergyman and compiler of a manuscript verse miscellany of original and copied poetry on various topics.

Caroline Symmons

  • c1810
Coteries The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

Unidentified poet; author of three poems in William Heath Marsh’s manuscript verse miscellany: “To Memory,” “The Flower Girl’s Cry,” and “The Hare-Bell.”

James Willins

  • 1768
  • 1851
Coteries The Marsh-Blofeld coterie

Clergyman; author of “On a little Bird caught on board at Sea” and “An imitation of Catullus,” which appear in William Heath Marsh’s manuscript verse miscellany.

UChicago Library Codex Ms. 549

Title Untitled
Period 1791-1820
Archive University of Chicago Special Collections and Research Center

Revd. William Heath Marsh, ca. 1810.

~100 + ~85 = ~185 poems.

Volume 1 consists primarily of copied poetry, especially pastoral and morality poems or poems with classical themes; volume 2 contains much more original poetry, poems related to public affairs, and references to a Norfolk social network centred around Marsh and Thomas and Mary Blofeld.

Period Description Manuscripts Coteries
1791-1820

some or all of the miscellany's compilation period falls within this timespan

 78 7