William Burdon

William Burdon (1764-1818) was a miscellaneous writer from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He earned a B.A. and M.A. from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, residing as a fellow there from 1788-96.  In 1795 Benjamin Flower published Burdon’s Three Letters Addressed to the Bishop of Llandaff, all of which had appeared in the Flower's paper, The Cambridge Intelligencer, in January and February 1795.  In a letter dated 10 January 1795, Burdon sought Richard Watson’s resignation as Regius Professor of Religion at Cambridge because of his prolonged absence and reliance upon an incompetent “hireling,” Dr. Thomas Kipling.  Burdon also blasted Watson’s political shift since becoming the Bishop of Llandaff.  In language nearly identical to that which Flower would use in 1799, Burdon refers to Watson as ranking among those “base betrayers of their country, who at the end of the year 1792 surrendered the strength and opposition into the hands of the minister upon the mispretence that the state was in danger.” Burdon removed to London in 1796 after declining to take orders in the church.  Apparently this was the result of a major crisis of faith he underwent shortly before leaving Cambridge.  In a letter to Flower (July 1797), Burdon notes the pleasing conversations they had together on “many interesting & important subjects,” but he now strongly disagrees with Flower’s steady commitment to the Christian faith and revealed religion.  He writes, “I am not the advocate, but I am not the foe of christianity ... I once believed it to be true.  I now am satisfied to the contrary, & it is not possible to learn it afresh”  (William Burdon Papers, Emmanuel College, MS. 269, ff. 230-34). Concerning politics, however, Flower and Burdon remained much alike in their views, as evidenced by Flower’s printing of Burdon’s A few words of plain truth on the subject of the present negotiation for peace (1797).   Burdon’s wife died in 1806, which explains the “loss he has sustained” mentioned in the above letter.  Among his other writings are An examination of the merits and tendency of the pursuits of literature (1799), a portion of which appeared in the 7 December 1799 issue of the Intelligencer; and Various thoughts on politicks, morality, and literature  (1800), some ideas of which may have appeared in his letter to the Cambridge Intelligencer on 25 October 1800. Besides considerable works on Napoleon and Spain, he also wrote pamphlets on the political issues of his day. His letter, “Thoughts on the Nature of Reform,” which appeared in the June 1807 issue of Flower’s Political Review and Monthly Register, 455-56.