Author: Bradstreet, Robert
Biography:
BRADSTREET, Robert (1764-1836: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 27 July 1764 at Higham Hall, Higham, Suffolk, the son of Robert Bradstreet (1704-78) and his wife Sarah Woodgate (1727-1804), who had married at Higham in 1757. He received his early education from Rev. Thomas Foster, rector of Halesworth, Suffolk, and then proceeded to St. John’s College, Cambridge (matric. 1782, BA 1786, MA 1789). He was also admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1782 but migrated to Gray’s Inn in 1790. On his father’s death he inherited farms, estates, and property and was very comfortably off. He lived abroad several years, mostly in France at the time of the Revolution, and later made several tours of Italy (1792-5), including one from Rome to Licenza which he began on 15 May 1795 and which formed the basis of The Sabine Farm (1810). He is thought to have married in France but the marriage was dissolved. He probably returned to England in 1795. He married Chamberlain Anna Adlam (1779-1848) on 8 Feb. 1800 at Higham. They went on to have three daughters and three sons. He lived for several years at East Molesey, Surrey, and at Bentley Grove, Suffolk. He sold Higham Hall some time before Mar. 1816. In 1813 the Earl of Bristol proposed him to Lord Liverpool for the post of poet laureate which was later awarded to Robert Southey (q.v.). In February 1826 he was elected to the newly-formed Royal Society of Literature. He died on 13 May 1836 at Portland Place, Southampton, and was buried at St. Mary Extra. A son had died in India in 1833 and his youngest daughter, Sarah, in May 1835. His will placed Bentley Farm and Bentley Grove and other land and property in trust to be sold for the benefit of his wife and surviving children. (ancestry.co.uk 20 June 2023; findmypast.co.uk 20 June 2023; ODNB 20 June 2023; Copsey; Hampshire Advertiser 14 May 1836; GM July 1836, 108; Kentish Gazette 4 April 1848) AA