OLIVER, GEORGE, 1781-1861.
Letters, 1816-1837.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 106

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CITATION:  George Oliver Letters, MSS 106, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.

George Oliver was born on 9 February 1781 at Newington, Surrey, England. He began his education at Sedgley Park School in Staffordshire and in 1796, attended Stonyhurst College. While at Stonyhurst, Oliver made the acquittance of John Milner, later bishop of Castabala, with whom he shared a love of antiquities. After completing his course of study at Stonyhurst, he remained there for five years to teach humanities. Oliver was ordained as a priest in 1806 and placed in the former Jesuit mission of St. Nicholas, Exeter in 1807. However, he was not a Jesuit. Due to the ban on the Catholic hierarchy in England, the members of the Stonyhurst community functioned as secular priests. With the restoration of the Society in 1852, Oliver declined to join the order and remained a secular priest until his death. He served the mission of St. Nicholas for forty-four years and retired from active service on 6 October 1851, though he remained at the mission until his death. He was created D.D. on 15 September 1844 by Pope Gregory XVI. He was a noted authority on the antiquities and history of Devonshire. George Oliver died on March 23, 1861 at St. Nicholas Priory, Exter.

His published works include: The Monasteries of Devon (1820); Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Devon (1828, with a much revised edition in 1839); Collection S.J. (1838); A View of Devonshire in 1630 (1845); Monasticon Eioecesis Exoniensis (1846); and Lives of the Bishops of Exter (1861).

This collection consists of eight letters, which date from 1816, 1817, and 1832 to 1837. Only one of the letters is by Oliver, dated March 21, 1816, and deals with the financial affairs of a Mr. Joseph Taske. This letter may be associated with a letter from Thomas Weld, dated April 2, 1816, which is a reply to the Taske matter. Also present in the collection is a letter from John Milner, dated June 2, 1817.