Author: Egleton, Stephen
Biography:
EGLETON, Stephen (1733-1809: ancestry.co.uk)
The son of Thomas Egleton (1707-70), a wine cooper in Rotherhithe, and his second wife Elizabeth Allison (1701-67), he was born on 26 Dec. 1733 and baptised on 19 Jan. 1734 in St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital. On 4 Sept. 1750 he was apprenticed to Mary Mitchell, a widowed printer in Fleet Street; the fee was paid jointly by his aunt (£15) and Christ’s Hospital (£5). On 15 Apr. 1765 he married Sarah Byford at the church of St. Mary Somerset with St. Mary Mounthaw on Upper Thames Street, London. They had at least seven children including two sons, Stephen and Charles, who followed their father into the stationery business. The title pages of his books state that he writes “for the Relief of Himself, Wife, and Seven Children.” Egleton’s wife helped him with his writing but she died in 1799 and both before and after her death Egleton seems to have been very unlucky financially. He was declared bankrupt in Feb. 1800 and spent time in the Fleet prison. His curious letter to the RLF written from his home at 44 Whitecross Street, Cripplegate, London, on 26 Mar. 1801 states that he was forced into begging publicly for money. Egleton inclosed with the letter a separate document detailing his penurious circumstances; it seems intended to solicit money from charities or philanthropic organisations. The fund awarded him 5 guineas in Apr. 1801 but a note in his file dated 1806 stipulated that any future applications from him should be sent to the Committee of Inquiry. Egleton died in 1809 and was buried on 2 July in the burial grounds at Spa Fields. His memoir, described in his letter to the RLF, was never published. (ancestry.co.uk 3 May 2024; findmypast.co.uk 3 May 2024; RLF file 101; BBTI) SR