The son of a butcher in Nottingham, White was a studious boy who, after being articled to a lawyer, learned classical languages and, with help from Capel Lofft (1753–1824 ; DNB), patron of Robert Bloomfield, published Clifton Grove, a Sketch in Verse, with other Poems in 1803. The book was violently attacked in the Monthly Review (February 1804); Southey then wrote to White offering encouragement. White also received help from evangelical Anglicans, who provided the means for him to study towards becoming a student at Cambridge. In 1805 he took up a place there, but his fierce regime of study exacerbated a delicate constitution, and he became ill and died. Southey then edited his Remains (1807), having been supplied with papers by White’s brother Neville. These were well received, went through several editions and established White’s reputation.