ABSTRACT

This chapter is devoted to the subject of the dissemination of Hutchinson’s ideas among Oxford University circles. An examination of the Oxford group of Hutchinsonians as a part of a study of Hutchinsonianism is necessary in many respects. There is a gap in the histories of the movement that can be filled by a consideration of the Oxford group: how they became exposed to Hutchinson’s teaching, the ways in which they were inspired by it, the ways in which their interest developed. Here I should make it clear that among the Oxford group I include the members of Oxford University from the 1730s to the 1790s, and especially the graduates of Oxford who were contemporaries and acquaintances of William Jones and George Horne, such as Alexander Catcott, that is, Catcott Junior.