Author: HOGHTON, G.
Biography:
HOGHTON, G. (f. 1800)
It is not clear when or by what authority Eliza: an Elegy was attributed to G. Hoghton: the work was published anonymously in London and there is no internal evidence as to authorship, neither by content nor by signed prelims. The poem celebrates lovely Eliza, barely 19 when she died, and concludes that “virtue alone secures the heart from woe.” An introductory sonnet is by one of Eliza’s siblings who might or might not have composed the elegy and dirge that follow. The author is implicitly male: he expresses love in “purity of soul” for the departed Eliza. If a Hoghton was indeed the author, the most likely candidate is George, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Hoghton, who was born on 13 Aug. 1776 and baptised at St. Leonard, Walton le Dale, Lancashire, on 14 Sept. No record of the baptism of an Eliza or Elizabeth Hoghton about 1780 has been discovered, so if George Hoghton was the author it does not seem likely that she was his sister. No other books are recorded under this author’s name. (ancestry.com 4 Dec. 2022; findmypast.com 4 Dec. 2022)