Thomas Maude

Thomas Maude (1718–1798) was a British physician, estate steward, and minor poet and essayist.

Biography Thomas Maude was, according to Charlotte Fell Smith, author of Maude's Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) entry, a member of the ancient family of Maude of Alverthorpe and Wakefield, Yorkshire. Speight, in Upper Wharfedale, notes Maude's familial connection with Burley in Wharfedale in the context of a large oval tablet erected in Burley Church in 1781, to the memory of his ancestors, of whom is mentioned William Maude, gent., born A.D. 1588 "in his paternal mansion at Burley, where he died in 1661".

Maude's place of birth is disputed. The DNB, citing Gentleman's Magazine (1841) asserts he was born in Downing Street, Westminster, during May 1718. Taylor, in Biographia Leodiensis, probably following Jones in The history and antiquities of Harewood, suggests Harewood, West Yorkshire as a place of birth with Westminster less likely. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) specifies Downing Street as his birthplace, noting that Maude retained ownership of his family property there, using it as a base when in London.

Maude entered the medical profession. In 1755 he was appointed surgeon on board the Barfleur, commanded by Lord Harry Powlett. Maude's favourable evidence at a court-martial before which Lord Harry was tried at Portsmouth in October 1755 was so highly valued by his commander that upon his succession as sixth and last Duke of Bolton in 1765 he appointed Maude steward of his Yorkshire estates. This post he held, residing at Bolton Hall, Wensleydale, until the death of the duke in 1794. He then retired to Burley Hall, at Burley in Wharfedale, where he died in December 1798, aged 80. He was buried in Wensley churchyard; lines from Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village are engraved on his tomb. Although the DNB specifies Maude was unmarried, the ODNB asserts Maude married on 6 August 1746 Cordelia Charlton, at St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, and that the couple had one son and two daughters.

Maude is noted as an acquaintance of Edward Ives, a fellow naval surgeon.

Works Maude's works are: Wensleydale, or Rural Contemplations; a Poem, published for the benefit of Leeds General Infirmary - 1771 edition, 1772 edition, 1798 4th edition An Account of the Cowthorpe Oak, near Weatherby, Yorks, 1774. See Opuscula Botanica, vol. clxiv. Verbeia, or Wharfedale; a Poem descriptive and didactic, 1782, 4to. Viator; a Journey from London to Scarborough by way of York; a Poem, with notes historical and topographical, 1782, 4to. The Invitation, or Urbanity; a Poem, 1791, 4to. The Reaper; a collection of Essays, &c., some of which were originally published in the York Courant, 1797. Enlarged and printed for the benefit of the Otley and Burley Sunday-schools, 2 vols. 8vo, York, 1798, but never published in consequence of the author's death. The second volume ends abruptly at p. 100. Two copies only were issued, of which one, with manuscript notes by W. Blanchard, the printer, is in the British Museum.