Introduction
Christopher Rawlinson (1677–1733) was an English antiquary.
Life
Born at Springfield, Essex, on 13 June 1677, he was the second son of Curwen Rawlinson of Carke Hall in Cartmell, Lancashire, and M.P. for Lancaster in 1688, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Nicholas Monck. He matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 14 June 1695.
He inherited his father's estates, and died in Holborn Row, London, on 8 January 1733. He was buried in the abbey church of St Albans, Hertfordshire. His portrait, engraved by Joseph Nutting, with those of other members of his family, is in the Bodleian Library (Bromley).
Works
Devoting himself to Anglo-Saxon studies, he published in 1698, with assistance from Edward Thwaites, King Alfred's Saxon version of Boethius ("Consolationis Philosophiæ Libri V", 1698), from a transcript at Oxford made by Francis Junius. It was printed with the Junian font.
Family and legacy
Rawlinson died unmarried and intestate, and his landed estates passed to the issue of his father's sisters Anne and Katherine. The furniture of Carke Hall was sold by auction at his death, and his manuscripts were at the same time disposed of in bundles, and were bought for pence by the villagers. Rawlinson had made valuable collections for the history of Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, all of which have probably perished. Sir Daniel Fleming had, however, copied extracts from the portion relating to Westmoreland. These extracts were deposited in the collection of manuscripts at Rydal Hall, and were used about 1777 by Richard Burn and Joseph Nicolson for their Westmoreland and Cumberland.