Author: DAVENPORT, Richard Alfred
Biography:
DAVENPORT, Richard Alfred (1777-1852: ODNB)
In an application to the RLF he gave his date and place of birth as 18 Jan. 1777 at Lambeth, Surrey. He was baptised on 23 Feb. 1777 at St. Mary’s, Lambeth, the son of James Davenport and his wife Catherine whose birth surname was probably Griffis. On 6 Sept. 1800 at St. Mary’s he married Selina Wheler (1779-1859), daughter of Captain Charles Granville Wheler and his first wife Mary Annesley. Charles Wheler was incarcerated in the King’s Bench prison for debt from 1796 to 1797 and his habitual improvidence was, according to Davenport, a continuing source of trouble. Richard and Selina had two daughters who were both baptised on 2 Aug. 1807 in Twickenham; he also had a son, Theodore Alfred, born outside the marriage in about 1805. The couple separated in about 1809 and Selina moved to Knutsford, Cheshire, where she made a name for herself as a prolific novelist. Davenport published the Poetical Register from 1801-09, contributed to the Annual Register, wrote biographical entries for Whittingham’s British Poets, and composed numerous other books including History of the Bastille (1835), Sketches of Imposture, Deception, and Credulity (1837), and Lives of Individuals who Raised Themselves from Poverty to Eminence and Fortune (1841). He specialised in extending the work of others; examples include his History of Greece (1835) which drew on a book by William Mitford. He first received financial aid from the RLF in June 1809 (£21) and subsequent applications in 1817, 1833, and 1848 netted a further £110. His letter dated 25 Jan. 1848 identifies his use of the pseudonym “Alfred Howard” for Beauties of Literature which appeared in 40 volumes in the 1830s; he also published Biographical Illustrations (1830) under the same name. (Davenport’s secret has been well-kept: libraries, including the BL, continue to catalogue the books as by Alfred Howard.) Davenport died at home in Brunswick Cottage, Park St., Camberwell, on 25 Jan. 1852 from what an inquest ruled was an overdose of opium. At his request, he was buried in Nunhead cemetery, Camberwell; his estate was inherited by his son. Selina Davenport, who also applied to the RLF, died in Knutsford in July 1859, predeceased by the two daughters. (ODNB 22 June 2024; ancestry.co.uk 22 June 2024; RLF files 236, 1247; Orlando; Lady’s Newspaper and Pictorial Times 31 Jan. 1852)