Nathaniel Hooke

Nathaniel Hooke

Nathaniel Hooke (died 1763) was an English historian.

He was the eldest son of John Hooke, serjeant-at-law, and nephew of Nathaniel Hooke the Jacobite soldier. He is thought by John Kirk to have studied with Alexander Pope at Twyford School, and to have formed a lifelong friendship there.

He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn 6 February 1702. Caught up in the South Sea Bubble, he sought patronage. He dedicated to the Earl of Oxford a translation from the French of Andrew Michael Ramsay's 'Life of Fénelon' (published in 1723), London. Other patrons were Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont, Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow, François Fénelon, Pope, George Cheyne, and William King, principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford.

When Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough required help with her memoirs, Hooke was recommended to her. He accordingly waited upon the aged duchess while she was still in bed; on his arrival she caused herself to be lifted up, and continued speaking for six hours without notes. Hooke resided in the house until the completion of the work, which appeared in 1742 under the title of An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough from her first coming to Court to the year 1710. Hooke received from the duchess £5,000. During his time with her she commissioned him to negotiate with Pope for the suppression, for payment of £3,000, of the character of 'Atossa' in his 'Epistles'. Owen Ruffhead stated (Life of Pope) that the duchess took a sudden dislike to Hooke because he attempted to convert her to Catholicism. John Whiston, however, asserted that at her death she left £500 a year to Hooke and David Mallet to write the history of the late Duke.

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