Career
Upon leaving the university in 1763, Woodforde returned to Somerset where he worked as a curate, mostly for his father, for ten years. From October 1763 to January 1764 he was the curate at Thurloxton. This period of his life, under-represented in Beresford's abridged edition of the Diary, is thickly peopled with memorable characters from all strata of society, many of them immortalised with nicknames — Peter 'Cherry Ripe' Coles, 'Mumper' Clarke, 'Riddle' Tucker. The extended Woodforde family, including James's frequently drunken brothers, figure prominently in these Somerset years.
On his father's death in 1771, James failed to succeed to his parishes and, likewise, failed to win, or rather retain, the heart of Betsy White — "a mere Jilt". He returned to Oxford where he became sub-warden of his college and a pro-proctor of the university. He was unsuccessful in his application to become headmaster of Bedford School, but in 1773, he was presented to the living of Weston Longville in Norfolk, one of the best in the gift of the college being worth £400 a year. He took up residence at Weston in May 1776.
Despite the wrench of leaving family and friends, he quickly settled down to a comfortable bachelor existence. He thought Norwich "the fairest City in England by far" and always enjoyed a trip to the "sweet beach" at Yarmouth. He was soon joined by his niece Nancy who, as housekeeper and companion, was with him until he died.
In Norfolk, his social life was more limited, but he enjoyed the fellowship of the local clergy who took it in turns to entertain one another to dinner — "our Rotation Club". Because he always recorded what was provided for dinner, which very occasionally was an elaborate banquet, he is often wrongly characterised as a glutton. Among the gentry in the eighteenth century, it was a matter of pride to provide a variety of dishes. Because Woodforde recorded them all, does not mean that he ate from them all.
Woodforde also provides a meticulous record of his accounts. This does not mean that he was either a miser or a spendthrift: he was advised to do so by his father. The daily entries are also accompanied by weather notes. The diary also provides a wonderfully full account of the small community in which the diarist lived — of the births and deaths, comings and goings, illnesses and annual celebrations.
The diary not only covers 'the Squire and his Relations', but also the rector's servants, the farmers and labourers, carpenter and innkeeper, parish-clerk and many others. As a churchman, Woodforde himself was conscientious by the standards of his time, charitable and pious without being sanctimonious and again typical of his day, deeply suspicious of enthusiasm.
The value of the diary to the historian lies in the wealth of primary source material it provides, while the general reader can bring from it the authentic flavour of 18th-century English country life. A display about his life and writings is available in the Castle Cary and District Museum in Somerset.
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