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Author: Haskins, John

Biography:

HASKINS, John (fl 1816)

In the preface to The Campaign of One Day, which he published anonymously, Haskins explains that the idea of writing it came to him “on the walk between La Belle Alliance and Hougomont”—sites in Belgium near Waterloo--during the Long Vacation of 1815. The book has an epigraph in Greek. These facts suggest that the author was classically educated and a student. The next work, The Battle of Waterloo, was published with his name in London, Oxford, and Cambridge. No records have been found, however, of his registration at either university; it is possible that he left without a degree, or that he was a gentleman merely accompanying a friend in 1815. O’Donoghue thought he might be related to an Irish author, James Haskins (b 1805), who graduated from Trinity College Dublin, but again no John Haskins is on their lists. The second book was widely reviewed but treated as, at best, a respectable effort on a topic that had become too common, with allowances made for its being the first poetic effort of a well meaning young man. He does not appear to have published further and no public records can be reliably tied to him. (ancestry.com 23 Feb. 2022; findmypast.com 23 Feb. 2022; O’Donoghue; Literary Panorama 5 [1817] 698; GM Nov. 1816, 439; MR 81 [1816] 440; CR 4 [1816] 92; Eclectic Review 6 [1816] 93-4)

 

Books written (2):

London/ Oxford/ Cambridge: James Black and Son/ Munday and Slatter/ E. and J. Goode, 1816
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1816