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Author: Breton, Eliab

Biography:

BRETON, Eliab (fl 1827?)

There are a surprising number with this name, all descendants of one family. Given his dates, the most likely candidate for the author of Geraldine is Eliab Blacknell Breton whose parents were William Breton of Mancetter, Warwickshire, and his wife Susanna Baxter of Atherstone, Warwickshire. They married at St. Pancras, London, on 4 Sept. 1795. One son, Harvey, was baptised in Little Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, on 14 Oct. 1795. No record has been found for Eliab’s birth or baptism but the Rugby school register gives his age as 11 in Mar. 1809. The 1861 Census gives his place of birth as Epping Forest, Hertfordshire; his occupation is “gentleman.” In Feb. 1828 his name appeared in the list of London bankrupts; at the time he was operating as a wine merchant at 25 Gloucester Street, Queen Square. On 28 June 1830 he married Marian Grant but she must have died because on 27 Feb. 1837 he married Elizabeth Baillie Grant (possibly a sister) at St. Giles in the Fields, Camden. There seem to have been no children from either marriage. They lived at 87 The Butts, Brentford, and that was where he died on 21 May 1861. He was buried in the Brompton cemetery.  (ancestry.co.uk 25 June 2023; findmypast.co.uk 25 June 2023; Rugby School Register [1881]; Cobbett’s Political Register 2 Feb. 1827).

 

Books written (1):

London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1827