The Resume

(November 20, 1752-August 24, 1770)
Most famous for the forged ‘Rowley Poems’
Contributed to ‘Bristol Journal,’ 'Town and Country Journal’ and ‘Freeholder’s Magazine’

Why he might be annoying:

At first, his family thought he was slow because he spoke late and disliked school.
He became obsessed with the medieval archives of the local church and withdrew into an imaginary fifteenth century world.
He forged a series of poems, essays and histories by an imaginary fifteenth century monk called Thomas Rowley.
Facing starvation in London, he committed suicide by swallowing arsenic rather than accept help from friends.
He tore up several of his manuscripts before killing himself.
For years after his death, Bristol merchants peddled his forgeries as authentic documents.

Why he might not be annoying:

He is the youngest major English poet.
He taught himself to read with a Gothic bible and inscriptions on parchment and medieval tombs.
He began contributing political satire to newspapers at age 11.
He became an icon to Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth who called him ‘that marvelous Boy.’
His forgeries fooled many noted antiquarians and writers, including Horace Walpole.
The duped Walpole later said, ‘I do not believe there ever existed so masterly a genius.’
He may have actually died from a quack cure for gonorrhea.

Credit: Georgina

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 18th Century Poets
• Dead Celebrity Cults
• Georgina/Devil Doll's Profiles [Series 1]
• Hoaxes
• I Committed Suicide
• I Contracted Gonorrhea/Clap [Some Rumored]
• I Died Before My 18th Birthday (Ranked: 17)
• I Died Before My 30th Birthday (Ranked: 17)
• I Died Under Mysterious Circumstances
• I Squandered My Talent
• I Was Expelled From School
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• My Dad Died Before I was Born
• Newspaper Journalists/Editors/Publishers
• People with Tom, Dick or Harry in their Names
• Poets
• Profiles 17751-18000 (Ranked: 17759)
• Redheads - Male

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 73.33% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 120 Votes: 57.50% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 43.75% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 239 Votes: 66.53% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 20 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 31 Votes: 51.61% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 33 Votes: 57.58% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 77 Votes: 62.34% Annoying
In 2006, Out of 90 Votes: 57.78% Annoying