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1574-1620
Poet; born at his maternal grandparents' home at Norbury, Staffordshire but brought up at The Manor House, Edgmond, near Newport, Shropshire. His mother died when he was only six, so his aunt, Elizabeth Skrymsher, supervised his upbringing. Having spent most of his early life at Edgmond, Barnfield went to Brasenose College, Oxford where he became a friend of the poets Thomas Watson and Michael Drayton. Barnfield's first published work was The affectionate shepherd (1594), a pastoral poem based on the second eclogue of Virgil. This was followed by Cynthia, with certain sonnets (1595) and further poems in 1598. Two of his poems appeared in The passionate pilgrim (1599) which was an anthology published by William Jaggard and with a title page attributing the work to Shakespeare. The encomion of Lady Pecunia (1599) was Barnfield's last published piece, a poem satirising the power of money.
Many sources indicate that Richard Barnfield died in 1627 as there is a will with that date in the Lichfield Joint Record Office. However more recent research suggests that this will is that of his father and that Richard Barnfield, the poet, in fact died at Market Drayton, Shropshire, and was buried there on 6 February 1620.
Adapted from An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire by Gordon Dickins, published by Shropshire Libraries, 1987. © Gordon Dickins, 1987.
Page created 8 November 2001 and last
updated 26 February 2007
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