Author: Howard, John Jarrard
Biography:
HOWARD, John Jarrard (d 1810: West Country Poets)
Howard, a surgeon, died at sea off Tobago on 13 Jul. 1810. His date of birth and parentage are not known. His name appears sometimes as John Jarrad or Jarrard John. He published a translation of Ovid in 1807 but in 1808-10 he appeared in lists of bankrupts, described as a surgeon with a practice in Lower Eaton St., Pimlico, London. His widow Margaret edited the posthumous subscription edition of his poems, with subscribers predominantly from Whitehaven, Cumberland, but also many from London and from Falmouth, Cornwall. The presumption is that she was by then living in Falmouth but that the couple had family in Whitehaven. "Jarrad John Howard" married Margery Plomer at St. George's, Hanover Square, on 13 Feb. 1804. The discrepancy between the wife Margery and the widow Margaret might have several explanations. No other marriage record for a man of his full name has been found, however, and the most likely reason is clerical error in 1804. They had a son, born before his father left to work at Berbice, Guyana, South America, but the infant died during his absence. Howard himself fell ill with fever and asked his wife to join him but his health declined. He took ship for Barbados hoping for better air but died on the journey and was buried at sea; when his wife landed at Demerara at the end of October, she arrived to the news of his death. The volume is dedicated to Lt.-Gen. Dalrymple, Commander-in-chief of the Guyana colonies at that time. (West Country Poets 263-4; Morning Post 31 Dec. 1808; National Register June 1810; Margaret Howard, “Preface” to Poems [1816]; findmypast.com 14 Dec. 2022; information from AA) HJ
Other Names:
- J. J. Howard