Joseph Thurston

Joseph Thurston (16 June 1704 – 1732) was an English poet. His poetry was much appreciated by Alexander Pope.

Life and education Joseph Thurston was baptised in Colchester, Essex, as the eldest son of Joseph Thurston (1672/1673–1714), a lawyer, of Little Wenham, Suffolk, and Mary (baptised 1677, died 1736), His father was Recorder of Colchester, where the family had made their money as woollen drapers. Joseph the younger, the eldest son and fifth child in the family, was admitted to Westminster School, London, in February 1716 and to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge on 13 April 1720.

There is no record of his Cambridge graduation. Although admitted to the Inner Temple on 25 July 1719, he was not called to the bar.