Author: Fawcett, Joseph
Biography:
FAWCETT, Joseph (c. 1758-1804: ODNB), pseudonym Sir Simon Swan
Records of Fawcett's life begin with his education. Neither his birthplace nor the names of his parents are known, but the family must have been residents of Hertfordshire and perhaps were farmers, since Fawcett turned to farming after his earlier careers as preacher and poet. In 1774, on leaving the grammar school of the Rev. French in Ware, Herts., he went on to the dissenting academy in Daventry along with Barron (or Baron) French, his master's son. On 23 Sept. 1782 he married Barron's sister Charlotte (d 1824) at Ware; they had at least one child together. Fawcett's first appointment as preacher was at the Presbyterian Chapel in Walthamstow in 1780. In 1785 he took on the Sunday evening lectures at the Old Jewry meeting-house in London, where in the course of ten years he built up a large and fashionable audience. In 1795, however, he resigned his position, took up farming at Edge Grove near Aldenham, Herts., and turned to writing. After Sermons in two volumes (1795), he published a series of anti-war poems admired by radical thinkers as different as Priestley and Godwin (q.v.). He died at Edge Grove and was buried in Aldenham churchyard. (ODNB 12 Jul. 2021; findmypast.com 12 Jul. 2021; ancestry.com 12 Jul. 2021) HJ
Other Names:
- Joseph Fawcet