John Pointer

John Pointer (1668–1754) was an English cleric and antiquary.

Life Born at Alkerton, Oxfordshire, on 19 May 1668, he was son of John Pointer, rector there from 1663 till his death in 1710, and Elizabeth (d. 1709), daughter of John Hobel, a London merchant. He was educated at Banbury grammar school, and then at Preston Deanery school, Northamptonshire. He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, on 24 January 1687, graduating B.A. 1691, and M.A. 1694.

Pointer took holy orders, being ordained deacon on 24 December 1693, and priest on 23 September 1694, and from 1693 until he resigned the office in 1732 he was chaplain to his college. According to Thomas Hearne, Pointer was removed for sodomy.

Instituted in September 1694 to the rectory of Slapton, Northamptonshire, Pointer retained the post for life. He was lord of the manor of Keresley in Warwickshire, and in December 1722 he came into other property in the parish. He died on 16 January 1754 in the house of his niece, Mrs. Bradborne of Chesterton in Worfield, Shropshire, and was buried in the chancel of Worfield parish church on 19 January. A tablet was erected to his memory. Britannia Romana, or Roman antiquities in Britain, viz., coins, camps, and public roads, 1724. Britannia Triumphans, or an Historical Account of some of the most signal Naval Victories obtained by the English over the Spaniards,’ 1743. Oxoniensis Academia, or the Antiquities and Curiosities of the University of Oxford, 1749.