Shropshire Routes to Roots - Shropshire places - Wem
c.1685-1756
Samuel Garbet is remembered for his work The history of Wem that was first published in 1818, over sixty years after his death. He wrote it while he was Second Master of Wem Grammar School in Shropshire. He could have been headmaster but, according to Iris Woodward, in her The story of Wem (1952), he preferred to have more leisure time in which to devote to his mission to write at least part of a survey of the natural and civil history of Shropshire.
Samuel Garbet was born at Norton, near Wroxeter. After studying at Christchurch College, Oxford, he entered the ministry, being ordained in 1706. He was curate at Great Ness Church, then Edstaston. From 1711 he was at Wem Grammar School for the rest of his career. He died in 1756.
His history is so important because it gives such a unique insight into this Shropshire market town in the middle of the eighteenth century. It is not easy to read today, being in a style typical of a period of somewhat elite scholarship. From his preface, it is clear that Garbet was thinking of publishing the work, and he makes assumptions that the reader will be similarly of a academic inclination and would know of the places and many of the people he is describing. Iris Woodward consciously attempted to add to Garbet's work by trying to identify some of the more obscure references for the ordinary, twentieth century, reader and is an essential companion.
An online version of The history of Wem is being prepared and completed sections can be found on this website.
Page created 7 September 2003 and last updated 22 June 2007
