Author: Holcroft, Thomas
Biography:
HOLCROFT, Thomas (1745-1809: ODNB)
A self-made man if ever there was one, Holcroft became a prolific writer and a left-wing political hero. He was born in London on 10 Dec. 1745 to Thomas and Sarah Holcroft. His father, who taught him to read, was a shoemaker by trade; his parents spent some years as itinerant pedlars in the Midlands and he himself worked as a stable boy at Newmarket. Without formal schooling, Holcroft read eclectically and picked up learning wherever he could. At 19 he taught reading to children himself, but an attempt to start his own school failed, as did several other initiatives. In 1765 he made the first of four marriages, which left him with a daughter to raise. His first wife was Jane Cargo; they married at Liverpool but she died a few years later. The second marriage, in 1774, added two more children; his wife, Matilda Tipler, died about 1776. The couple had been actors in a provincial company but in 1776 Holcroft began to be employed by Sheridan at Drury Lane in London--the beginning of a productive theatrical career. By his marriage to Dinah Robinson (d 1790) in 1778 he had a fourth child, Fanny, who became a writer, translator, and occasional composer like her father. Holcroft supplemented his acting income by writing works in various genres: many plays (mostly comedies), adaptations, translations, essays, reviews, and fiction. William Godwin (q.v.) became a close friend. In 1794, Holcroft was indicted for treason along with Thomas Hardy and John Horne Tooke. The charges against him were dropped but his reputation as a Jacobin stayed with him. With his fourth wife Louisa Mercier, whom he married in 1799, he had six more children. They lived on the Continent until 1802, when they returned to London and he published a profitable account of his travels. But his play The Vindictive Man (1806) failed in performance, with financially disastrous consequences. Holcroft died at home in London on 23 Mar. 1809 after “a painful and lingering illness.” His family applied to the RLF for assistance and received 30 guineas. His widow and one of the older unmarried daughters planned to open a school together. (Louisa Holcroft later married James Kenny.) Holcroft’s Memoirs were edited by William Hazlitt and published in 1816. (ODNB 30 Mar. 2019; findmypast.com 6 Feb. 2025; National Register 26 Mar. 1809; RLF #230) HJ