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Author: King, William

Biography:

KING, William (d 1836: findmypast.com)

The only reliable information about King comes from a newspaper report of his death and from his works themselves. The Parricide is dated from Edmonton, so he is sometimes distinguished from other William Kings in library catalogues as the one "of Edmonton." Scraps of Poesy, dated from Tottenham and with contributions by a "talented friend," William Stafford Finch (c. 1808-83) q.v., describes the author as a terminally ill widower (suffering from "confirmed consumption") with two children. He died not long afterwards at lodgings in Enfield. The Advertisement in Scraps observes that he had been too ill to practise his profession. Thus it appears that he was a professional working in Middlesex during the last years of his life. The Parricide had mixed reviews: it was damned in the Athenaeum but the London Sun declared the author "a second Shakspeare [sic]." (findmypast.com 5 Jun. 2021; Athenaeum 30 Mar. 1833; Sun 13 Apr. 1833; Morning Advertiser 5 Apr. 1836)

 

Books written (2):

London: Simpkin and Marshall, 1833
Tottenham: G. Coventry, [1835]