Author: Concanen, Matthew
Biography:
CONCANEN, Matthew (1759-1821: ancestry.co.uk)
There is no record of his baptism but two records suggest a date of birth around 1759: he was listed as a freemason and attorney in 1786, aged 28, living in Southwark; and he stated that he was in his sixty-first year in his application to the RLF in 1820. He was articled to his father, Matthew Concanen (1735-1813), a Bristol and London attorney. His grandfather, also Matthew Concanen (1701-49), was a poet and sometime Attorney General of Jamaica. He qualified as a solicitor around 1782 but later experienced financial difficulties. He spent several years in the Fleet and under King’s Bench rules in 1807-8 and 1812-16. He married Ann Cottrell on 7 Feb. 1784 at St. Andrew’s, Holborn. They went on to have twelve children, nine of whom survived him. He applied to the RLF for assistance in June 1820 and was awarded £10. He was then living at 39 Belvedere Place, Borough Road, Southwark. He then moved to 12 High Street, Islington, from where on 25 April 1821 he applied for assistance again. His health had been deteriorating for three months and he was “too exhausted to write, and too feeble to dictate” (RLF, 419/7). He died on 19 May 1821 and his wife was left practically destitute with nine children. She was awarded a further £10. She died in Hammersmith in 1842. In addition to the work listed here, in his RLF application he claimed authorship of Thoughts on Freemasonery(1787), The History and Antiquities of the Parish of St. Saviour’s, Southwark (1795), A Moral Catechism for Youth (1812), The Monarch, the Minister, and the Malefactor (Occasioned by the Execution of Cashman), A Poetic Sketch(1817), The Siege of Rochelle, A Drama (nd, c. 1817), The Manager in his Slippers, A Drama (nd, c.1817) and several short works on legal subjects. With the exception of The History (1795) there are no library records for these works. They may have been periodical contributions and the dramas may have been acted but not published. (ancestry.co.uk 10 July 2023; findmypast.co.uk 10 July 2023; RLF #419; SJC 12 July 1842; ODNB 10 July 2023 [grandfather]) AA
Other Names:
- M. Concanen