Additions and Corrections to the Wellesley Index
April 2005 Edition
Eileen M. Curran
Another batch, mainly of additions. A dozen Wellesley ‘blanks’ have been filled, some by the identification of Fraser’s ‘retired barrister’ who wrote about his contemporaries. One genderless name, a contributor to the Westminster about whom Wellesley could find no biographical information, turns out to have been the pseudonym of a woman known as a contributor to two other periodicals. A couple of ‘prob.’s’ have been removed and supporting evidence added elsewhere. Part B gives new biographical information on twenty previously identified contributors, often when nothing was previously known about them, and introduces two new contributors.
True to form, I include a few nit-picking, tidying ‘improvements,’ and I return to a question raised in an earlier installment of these Additions and Corrections: what exactly does ‘collaborate’ mean? If a writer’s previously published book is used extensively in an article, is that writer a collaborating author of the article? Wellesley said he was (not consistently, or a vast number of articles would be called collaborations); I think not. While it is helpful to learn that an article is derivative, even if not exactly plagiarized, some term other than ‘collaborator’ must be found to describe the first writer. (I do not raise here, but will in future return to, another problem, that of the editor as collaborator.)
Listed here are almost a dozen likely but vague claims of contributorship—what I sometimes call ‘But What?’ Some erroneous ‘identifications’ are confuted. In one particularly frustrating instance, contemporary sources identified author, periodical, article(s), and approximate date—all false leads.
The archives of the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) remain a rich source of information. This installment also benefits greatly from the new online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), even if at times the latter seems a mixed blessing. Some entries contain errors, even easily avoidable errors, and some give less total information, and less specific information, about a writer’s involvement with periodicals than did the old DNB. More than balancing these drawbacks is the fact that the ODNB is searchable. A full-text search by periodical title will bring up all references to that periodical, usually with enough context shown that one can quickly eliminate those not relevant to a particular search. In addition, from each ODNB biography one can click on the earlier DNB entry, though one cannot do a full-text search of the old entries.
E.C., April 2005
Sub-editors: Laman Blanchard. Andrew Sanders, in ODNB, says that Blanchard served as sub-editor only ‘for a year from February 1842,’ not until February 1845, as Wellesley claims.
Burbury, Edwina Jane. Claimed that she contributed to AM. RLF case 1243.
BentM 2062b Farewell to the Old Year!, 31 (Jan. 1852), 52. Margaret A. Burgoyne. Add to evidence: On 4 Dec. 1851 ‘Miss Burgoyne’ sent this, along with another, unnamed ‘small’ poem, to Bentley for the January Miscellany (Bentley Corresp., Univ. Illinois).
BentM 2535 A romance of Capel-Court, 37 (May 1855), 525-538. s/ L.W. Probably Sir Frederic Charles Lascelles Wraxall. Wraxall signed these initials to articles in Fraser’s in 1857 and in Temple Bar from 1862 to 1865. He had contributed 3 articles to BentM in 1851 and 1852, signing the first F.C.W. and leaving the next two unsigned; a few months after this tale he became a regular contributor, signing his articles ‘Lascelles Wraxall.’ This tale deals with gambling, the subject of several of Wraxall’s articles in BentM and the New Monthly. The titles of his first eight or more BentM articles follow a similar pattern: a or the something of or in such-and-such a place.
BentM: Unidentified and misattributed contributions
Campbell, Harriette, 1817-1841. The Literary Gazette, 13 March 1841, p.170 (copied by Gentleman’s Magazine, May 1841, p.544, and by the ODNB) claimed that ‘several’ of her ‘Legends of the Lochs and Glens’ appeared in BentM and that these were inspired by family summers in the Highlands and by her admiration ‘of the character and occupations of its inhabitants.’ No such articles appear in BentM, no other periodical with ‘Bentley’ in its title was published during or shortly after her lifetime, she does not appear in any of the indices to the Bentley Archives, and neither the British Library nor the National Library of Scotland records a book of this title. The NLS does list Tales about Wales; a catechism of Welsh history, by Harriette Campbell and edited by Capt. Basil Hall, 2nd edition published in Edinburgh in 1837. The subject seems unlikely for this Stirling woman; no one else mentions the work, not even the anonymous writer in The Literary Gazette, who provides many personal details and sounds in love with her.
Darley, George, 1795-1846. Anne Ridler, in her notes to Selected Poems of George Darley (London: Merrion Press, 1979), 246, wrongly attributes to Darley poems signed ‘G. D.’; the ODNB expands this into a claim that Darley ‘contributed verse and short stories to Bentley’s Miscellany’ in the 1840s. ‘G. D.’ actually was George Dubourg, whose contributions are identified in Receipts in Bentley Corresp., Univ. Illinois; see Wellesley for the prose and, for the verse, http://victorianresearch.org/curranindex.html. Nothing links Darley to BentM.
Thornbury, George Walter. According to the ODNB, after 1851 Thornbury ‘became a regular contributor’ to several periodicals, including BentM. The percentage of unidentified authorship is particularly high after Ainsworth became proprietor/ editor near the end of 1854; many of these articles belong to the category that the ODNB identifies as Thornbury’s specialty, dealing ‘with geographical and topographical themes’ and reflecting extensive travels. However, his widow did not include BentM in a long list of periodicals to which Thornbury contributed (RLF case 2007), and it is impossible to say what he may have contributed.
Bk 1688 New Years’ [sic in Wellesley] night, from the German, 43 (Feb. 1838), 167-187. Delete ‘Unidentified’ and, in next sentence, ‘prob.”’ Add: The original story, ‘Das Abenteuer der Neujahrsnacht,’ was by Heinrich Zschokke; see Morgan and Hohlfeld 238. James White translated it into English.
Blackwood’s: Unidentified contributions
Woodward, Dr. Samuel Pickworth. 1821-1865. Naturalist and palaeontologist. According to Allibone’s, contributed to Bk. Neither ODNB nor his widow (RLF case 1681) identifies him as contributing here; ODNB does note that he ‘served as a critic and reviewer of scientific books for The Critic and other journals.’
Hill, Isabella. According to ODNB, she contributed, perhaps comic material.
Faussett, Thomas Godfrey Godfrey-. According to ODNB, he contributed.
Gray, Maria Georgina (Shirreff). According to ODNB, she contributed.
FM 4 Jean Paul Friedrich Richter’s review of Mme de Staël’s Allemagne (Part 1), 1 (Feb. 1830), 28-37. For consistency’s sake, give full name: Trans. with intro. note by Thomas Carlyle.
FM 45 Jean Paul Friedrich Richter’s review of Mme de Staël’s Allemagne (Part 2), 1 (May 1830), 407-413. Again, add translator’s name: Thomas Carlyle.
FM 441 My contemporaries; from the notebook of a retired barrister (Part 1), 6 (Sept. 1832), 220-230. Isaac Espinasse. Attrib. ODNB; Espinasse had been admitted to Gray’s Inn in Dec. 1780 and called to the bar in Feb. 1787.
FM 454 My contemporaries … (Part 2), 6 (Oct. 1832), 314-324. Isaac Espinasse. As #441.
FM 468 My contemporaries … (Part 3), 6 (Nov. 1832), 417-431. Isaac Espinasse. As #441.
FM 499 My contemporaries … (Part 4), 7 (Jan. 1833), 44-53. Isaac Espinasse. As #441.
FM 517 My contemporaries … (Part 5), 7 (Feb. 1833), 178-190. Isaac Espinasse. As #441.
FM 552 My contemporaries … (Part 6), 7 (May 1833), 555-564. Isaac Espinasse. As #441.
FM 728 Horae Sinicae (No. II) …, 10 (Aug. 1834), 222-226. Delete ‘”collaborated” with’; even with the quotation marks, this is inaccurate. In its place, add: used the work of. See FM 1173 below and the entry under ‘Thoms, Peter Perring’ in Part B below.
FM 1173 Horae Sinicae (Nos. IV-V, concl.), 17 (March 1838), 259-268. Change wording: not ‘Moir and P. P. Thoms’ and ‘Moir and John Francis Davis,’ but ‘D. M. Moir using P. P. Thoms’s Chinese Courtship …’ and ‘D. M. Moir using John Francis Davis’s translations’ (by this time Davis had published half a dozen volumes of translations from the Chinese). No evidence suggests that Thoms and Davis assisted in the production of these articles. See argument below in Part B under Thoms; also Wellesley’s account of Moir’s method at FM 701 and FM 816, the first and third in the Horae Sinicae series.
Dilke, Charles Wentworth, 1789-1864. ‘Memoir’ by his grandson, prefixed to Dilke’s Papers of a critic, claims but does not identify contributions by Dilke in 1822-23 and 1827-29 (1:15, 19).
Merle, William Henry. ODNB identifies as a contributor sometime between the 1820s and the mid-1840s; possibly he contributed only verse.
Gray, Maria Georgina (Shirreff). According to ODNB, she contributed.
QR 1046 Junius, 90 (Dec. 1851), 91-163. David Trevena Coulton. Delete DNB as source and re-cast evidence to read: Murray gives ‘W. T. Coulton,’ apparently his usual mistaken version of the name. Writing to Octavian Blewitt on 6 Jan. 1863, at the request of D. T. Coulton’s widow, who was applying for RLF assistance 5 years after his death (case 1615), John Murray refers to him as ‘the late W. T. Coulton’ and continues: ‘I first knew him as a contributor to the Quarterly, to which he contributed, at least 5 articles, one of which, to prove Lord Lyttelton the author of Junius made considerable noise at the time. He afterwards became editor of a newspaper [as D. T. Coulton did of The Press].’ See also Lockhart, Life, 2:345-6.
Introduction p.389, Editors: Edmund Yates: Delete ‘or October’ as terminal date of his editorship (and adjust n.16 accordingly). On 30 June 1867 he was paid for editing Temple Bar for the next quarter, July through September; there is no record of further payment for editing the magazine. Bentley Archives 2/62
TBar 3218 Some particulars concerning the Rev. William Cole, 93 (Oct. 1891), 221-236. Richard Charles Browne. Add to evidence: Writing to George Bentley on 24 Dec. 1888, R. Charles Browne describes this article, which he is working on, and offers first refusal to TBar; revisions, abridgements, and illnesses follow, until, 30 Sept. 1891, he acknowledges payment for ‘Cole’ (Bentley Corresp., Univ. Illinois).
WR 300 Patronage of art—literary works of M. A. Shee, P.R.A., 13 (July 1830), 197-217. Delete ‘Unidentified.’ Insert: Attributed to Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789-1864) by William Garrett, Charles Wentworth Dilke (Boston: Twayne, 1982), 235, on the authority of Liverpool Journal, 7 Sept. 1833, p. 286 [which I have been unable to verify].
WR 519 Robert Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials in Scotland, 19 (Oct. 1833), 332-360. Yes, by John Hill Burton, but Wellesley identifies the evidence inexactly. ‘A memoir of the author’ prefixed to the 1882 ‘new edition’ of Burton’s The Book-Hunter is not by Burton but by his widow, Katharine Burton, who quotes a letter from Burton to his mother dated 24 July 1833: ‘You are aware that I have long delayed an article on Criminal Trials for the “Westminster Review.” I have now set about it seriously, and am resolved not to stir until it is finished, which I hope may be on Saturday [27 July].’ The October issue was the next issue of WR.
WR 2461 The future of single women, 121 o.s., 65 n.s. (Jan. 1884), 151-162. Henrietta Müller. ODNB.
WR 2506 The work of women as Poor Law guardians, 123 o.s., 67 n.s. (Apr. 1885), 386-395. Henrietta Müller. Delete ‘prob.’ ODNB.
WR 2575 What woman is fitted for, 127 o.s., 71 n.s. (Jan. 1887), 64-75. Henrietta Müller. ODNB.
WR 2731 Some aspects of the London School Board, 129 (June 1888), 701-712. Henrietta Müller. Delete ‘prob.’ ODNB.
WR 3290 Personality in art, 139 (June 1893), 646-653. Ella D’Arcy. s/ G. H. Page. ‘Gilbert H. Page’ was D’Arcy’s known pseudonym; she had studied fine art at the Slade School of Art. See ODNB.
[Starred entries indicate contributors not in Wellesley; other entries add to or correct Wellesley information.]
Blanchard, (Samuel) Laman. Delete 1804 as year of birth. ODNB gives date of birth as 15 May 1803.
Browne, Richard Charles. Add: fl. 1860 – 1894; a ‘proprietor’ of the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, living near it on the top floor of 4, Finsbury Circus (‘above a whole nest of companies, and lawyers, and “promoters”’), at least from 1889 also with a ‘cottage’ in Wells, Somerset. Informaton from letters to Richard Bentley in Bentley Corresp., Univ. Illinois.
*Burbury, Edwina Jane, née Hicks. 1818/19-1870. Writer. ODNB; RLF case 1243. See AM Unidentified.
Burgoyne, Margaret Anne. Add: Married 7 Jan. 1854 to George Wrottesley; died 3 May 1883. See ODNB under husband’s name; also under father, Sir John Fox Burgoyne.
Craven, Henry Thornton To entry at VPR 32 (1999), 152, add: real name Henry Thornton; also add dates: 1818-1905. ODNB, which implies that he contributed more to BentM than the single item identified here.
D’Arcy, Ella. Her full name was Constance Eleanor Mary Byrne D’Arcy. Delete “d. 1939”; add dates: 1857? – 1937. ODNB. Also add: WR 3290.
Davis, John Francis. Delete the FM line; in its place add: See FM 1173 aboveand argument below at ‘Thoms, Peter Perring.’ [Both Part B and Vol. 5 misspell the title of this article.]
*Espinasse, Isaac. 1758-1834. Anglo-Irish barrister, legal reporter and writer. ODNB. FM 441, 454, 468, 499, 517, 552.
Grimstone, Mrs. Mary Leman. Add approximate dates: c.1800 – in or after 1851. Also add: née Rede (she was a sister of William Leman Rede, q.v.). Correct connection to her 2nd husband, William Gillies: she was his 3rd wife, not his 2nd. See ODNB, which enters her as ‘Gillies [née Rede; other married name Grimstone], Mary Leman.’
Hill, Isabel. Delete ‘d. 1841/42’; add dates: 1800 – 1842. ODNB, which says that she died ‘in early January 1842.’ Very early: on 10 Jan. 1842, applying for RLF aid (case 985), her brother Benson Earle Hill referred to her as ‘lately departed.’ Perhaps expand description to read ‘writer and translator,’ as in ODNB, which gives an account of her original work in drama, verse, fiction, and non-fiction.
Maginn, William. Change date of birth from 1793 to 1794 (10 July). ODNB.
Mayer, Gertrude Mary (Dalby). Change date of birth from 1840/41 to 1839 (10 Nov.) So in her application for RLF assistance as the widow of Samuel Ralph Townshend Mayer (case 1621).
Merle, William Henry. Add dates: 1791-1878. ODNB.
Morrison, Robert. Delete entry in Part B and Vol. 5; in its place add: See FM 701.
Müller, (Frances) Henrietta. Add date of birth: 1845/46. ODNB. Also add WR 2461, 2575.
Page, G. H. Delete attribution. Add: See D’Arcy, Ella.
Reynolds, John Hamilton. Change date of birth from 1796 to 1794 (9 Sept.). ODNB.
Ritchie, Leitch. ODNB adds a first name, Duncan, which he apparently did not use, and also gives his date of birth unequivocally as 1800 (earlier DNB had appended a ?). See Wellesley’s evidence in vol. 2, Pt. B, which gives a d.o.b. of 1796/97, with odds on 1796, not 1797.
Romer, Isabella Frances. Add: Baptized 21 June 1798. ODNB.
St.John, James Augustus. Change date of birth from 1801 to 1795. ODNB, which gives interesting new information about his early life and the various names he tried on before settling on this (he was born James John).
Sheehan, John. Year of birth seems a problem. Wellesley gives it as 1812, the ODNB as 1809. Sheehan applied three times for Royal Literary Fund assistance (case 1993); in the first two, in May 1876 and February 1878, he gave date of birth as 23 January 1813, then in the last application, in April 1879, he gave the year as 1814 (thus claiming to be 65 for two years in a row).
Statham, Henry Heathcote. Add: See TBar 3778. Statham to ‘The Editor of Temple Bar,’ 6 Oct. [1896], sends evidence that this article is plagiarized from his work; same to same, 8 Oct. 1896, indicates that Bentley has accepted the accusation (Bentley Corresp., Univ. Illinois).
Stevenson, William. Delete 1772 as d.o.b.; add Bap. 26 Nov. 1770. ODNB (by J. A. V. Chapple).
Thoms, Peter Perring. Add biographical information: Fl. 1814-1855. A printer, in 1814 sent to Macao by the East India Company, along with a printing press, to print Robert Morrison’s Chinese dictionary; returned to England in March 1825. In the 1830s had his own printing shop at 12 Warwick Square, London. In 1839, before international copyright, he brought out, perhaps as a test case, a cheap reprint of Haliburton’s The Clockmaker from the first, Nova Scotia edition but was sued by Richard Bentley, the publisher of the copyrighted English edition, who argued that Haliburton had verbally assigned the original Canadian copyright to him. (Hosea Ballou Morse, The Chronicles of the East India Company trading to China 1635-1834 [Cambridge: Harvard UP, and Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926], vols. 3 and 4; Bentley Archives, BL.) Delete Wellesley’s claim that he collaborated on three FM articles; in its place add: See FM 701 and FM 816 and correction above for FM 1173. In earlier installments of these Additions and Corrections I have questioned Wellesley’s use of ‘collab.’ The claim that Thoms (and John F. Davis and Robert Morrison) collaborated on FM 701, 816, and 1173 seems particularly wrong-headed. Wellesley 2:343 accurately describes the first of this series as ‘a selection, partly verbatim, partly rewritten,’ from books Thoms published in 1820 and 1824; parts 3-5 of the series employed the same method. There is no evidence that any of these men had any part in making the selections or were even aware of them.
Wade, Joseph Augustine. Once again, year of birth is problematic. ODNB argues for 1800/01 on the basis of age given on death certificate. This, however, is unreliable evidence, provided to the registrar at the time of the death. When his widow applied for RLF assistance 3 months later, she filled in his date of death and her date of birth but not his date of birth or age at death (case 777).
Barrister, a retired = Isaac Espinasse. FM 441, 454, 468, 499, 517, 552.
Page, G. H. [Gilbert H. Page] = Ella D’Arcy. WR 3290.
Curran Index ver. 3.1 © 2005 by Eileen Curran