AUTOBIOGRAPHIES FROM MEN OF ALL RANKS
Sources from the British Library, London

Part 1: Autobiographies, c1760-1820

Publisher's Note

“It is a duty on upright and credible men of all ranks, who have performed anything

noble or praiseworthy, to record in their own writing, the events of their lives.”

Benvenuto Cellini

We can be grateful that the c.48 men ‘of all ranks’ that feature in this first part of our series, Autobiographies from Men of all Rank took Cellini’s words to heart and recorded the accomplishments as well as the minutiae of their lives.  The result is a fascinating and multi-faceted portrait of life in Britain from 1760-1820.

The project covers both manuscripts and rare printed autobiographies and readers will be able to examine the differences between the two sources.

All manner of men are represented, including apothecaries, artists, artisans, diplomats, farmers, journalists, mill workers, musicians, politicians, preachers, pugilists, soldiers, surgeons, writers, a stable boy and a fencing master.

Some notable inclusions are:

• Thomas Bewick’s manuscript autobiography (Add MS 41481) describing his upbringing, apprenticeship and subsequent career as a wood engraver and author of important works including: A History of British Birds (1797) and A General History of Quadrupeds (1790).

• William Cowper’s manuscript memoirs (Add Ms 59868) describing his religious experiences and writing at Olney in his collaboration with the Reverend John Newton.

• The printed memoirs of Dr Joseph Priestley (1806) detail his discoveries in chemistry, his metaphysical writings, his religious opinions and discoveries on human character.

• John McLeod’s experiences as a ship’s surgeon travelling to Korea, Africa and the West Indies are told in Narrative of a Voyage (1817) and A Voyage to Africa (1820), with much on slavery.

• Thomas Wright, Yorkshire cloth maker and wool manufacturer, gives a good picture of domestic life, religion and disturbances during the second half of the eighteenth century in his Autobiography (1864)

• Account of the Life of Thomas Olivers (1789) gives a lively account of early Methodism in which the Welshman, Olivers, writes about his religious conversion by Wesley and his travels and adventures in the Methodist ministry.

• Musical Memoirs (1830) by the oboist William Thomas Parke gives fascinating information about the state of music in England from 1784-1830 describing orchestral and instrumental music in London and Covent Garden, opera and festivals, interspersed with social and musical anecdotes.

• A Narrative of the Life and Death of John Elliot, M.D. (1787) relates the extraordinary account of the author’s unhappy passion for Miss Mary Boydell, together with his apology after his commitment for attempting to assassinate Miss Boydell.

• Agriculturalist, Arthur Young’s Autobiography (1898) records his education and career from the 1740s to the early nineteenth century describing his farming experiments, travels and observations in England, Ireland and France, and his work at the Board of Agriculture.  In addition Young writes about country life and London politics.

There are also manuscript autobiographies by Edward Gibbon, Warren Hastings, William Hogarth, Sir Hudson Lowe, James Northcote, James Stuart and John Wilkes.   Other rare printed accounts range from the working class memoirs of George Allen (Machine Breaker, 1831); the rise of the middle class Potter family (From Ploughshare to Parliament, 1908); to the Life of Thomas Telford (1838) the great engineer.

This project will be of direct interest to anyone studying Life-Writing or Autobiography, and also to anyone studying the Romantic era.  There are important sources for those interested in art, history, politics, industry, literature, religion and travel.

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