Author: Grocott, James
Biography:
GROCOTT, James (1789-1852: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 13 Sept. 1789 to James Grocott, a landwaiter or customs officer, and his wife Hannah Webster. They had married in Liverpool on 5 Oct. 1788 and James, the son, was baptised at St. Peter's, Liverpool, on 20 Oct. 1789. In his RLF application of 1843 he stated that he was 52, had been born in Castle Street, Liverpool, and educated at Hutton Academy, near Preston, with a view to entering the church. He married Mary Billinge (1789-1826) on 27 Aug. 1812, at St. Anne’s, Liverpool. They had at least three children. He set up in business as a printer and stationer with John Green Billinge (1797-1875). The partnership was dissolved in August 1817 although Billinge printed Grocott’s first poem, Almedo (1819). In 1819, Grocott spent some time in prison for debt and lost his library. He was indignant about the experience, recording it in “A Prison Scene from Personal Observation,” and “On Parting with my Library” (Juvenile Poems). His wife died in Belfast on 28 July 1826, aged 37. He married Matilda Louisa Howard (1788-1876) on 30 Nov. 1826, at St. Thomas’s, Liverpool. The marriage record gives his occupation as tidewaiter or customs officer. They had a daughter in 1830 and were living in Haworth Street, Everton, with him recorded as accountant. Although he acquired a literary reputation in Liverpool and Manchester for the works listed here and his editorship of the Manchester Iris, the Liverpool Magazine, and the Liverpool Cabinet, he applied to the RLF for assistance in Sept. 1830 and was awarded £10. Applications in 1843 and 1847 were rejected. He died on 13 Dec. 1852, aged 63, in Liverpool, and was buried on 17 Dec. in St. James's churchyard, Toxteth. His wife is recorded as a widow and retired governess in the 1861 census. She died, aged 90, at her daughter’s house in Liverpool and was buried at Toxteth on 16 Nov. 1876. Two works listed in his RLF application have not been located: The Family Instructor, or Lectures for Youth (Liverpool 1835), and Book of Poems (Liverpool 1836). (ancestry.co.uk 22 Dec. 2022; RLF, 1/ 687; Lancaster Gazette 29 Aug. 1812, 9 Dec. 1826; Liverpool Mercury 11 Aug. 1826; Liverpool Mail 18 Dec. 1852; Liverpool Albion 18 Nov. 1876; London Gazette 19 Aug. 1817; Leeds Intelligencer 8 Feb. 1819; contributions from SR) AA