William Shenstone (1714-1763), poet, was born on 13 November 1714. He was educated at Halesowen and Solihull, and entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1732, where he studied poetry but did not take a degree. He published The judgement of Hercules (1741) and The schoolmistress (1742) anonymously. From 1745 he carried out improvements to the family estate of The Leasowes on Mucklow Hill, near Halesowen. Shenstone's Pastoral ballad (1755) and a set of his other poems (1758) were issued by Robert Dodsley, who also published a collection of his works, 1764-1769. Shenstone died on 11 February 1763.
John Dovaston (1740-1808), of The Nursery, West Felton, Oswestry, Shropshire, received little formal education, and inherited a small estate beset by mortgages and incumbrances. He made two profitable voyages to the West Indies, and thereafter pursued wide-ranging interests as an antiquarian, naturalist, musician and planter of trees. He was the father of the naturalist and poet John Freeman Milward Dovaston (1782-1854).
From the guide to the William Shenstone and others: Poems, 1765, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
