Author: Hewerdine, William
Biography:
HEWERDINE, William (1763-99: findmypast.com)
He was baptised on 28 Nov. 1763 at St. Michael, Stamford, Lincolnshire, the son of a grocer, John Hewerdine, and his wife Naomi Hopkin, who had married in her parish of South Witham on 14 Feb. 1760. His father went bankrupt in 1776. Nothing is known of his education, but he made his living working for the London theatres. He first appeared onstage at Covent Garden in 1787 and was not well received; although he appeared again in the same role at the Haymarket in 1792, he seems to have chosen composition over performance. Individual authors are very seldom identified in his anti-Whig Collection of Odes but the “political songs”—of which there are many—are attributed to him on the title-page. He also published a song of four pages, Pat . . . riot, in 1794. Some of his songs were included in the popular collections of Charles Morris (q.v.) under the title The Festival of Anacreon. His death on 5 Jun. 1799, “in his 36th year” at Post Witham, was reported in the local press and in the European Magazine; he was buried at St. John the Baptist, South Witham, on 8 Jun. Although there are a few Lincolnshire or Leicestershire marriage records for men of this name, none is a very good match and it seems most probable that he made a life for himself in London and did not marry. (findmypast.com 23 Dec. 2022; Town and Country Magazine 8 [1776], 168; Highfill 7: 280-1; Reading Mercury 17 Jun. 1799; European Magazine June 1799) HJ
Other Names:
- Mr. Hewerdine