Author: LAURENCE, French
Biography:
LAURENCE, French (1757-1809: ODNB)
“The Rolliad” never existed as an independent publication and Criticisms on The Rolliad, a Poem (1784 and later) is an anti-Pittite political satire thinly disguised as literary criticism. It began as a popular series of articles in the Morning Herald in 1784-5 and was expanded in some later editions. French Laurence was one of the more important anonymous contributors, the leader of whom was Joseph Richardson, q.v. The eldest of four children of a watchmaker, Richard Laurence, and his wife Elizabeth French, he was born at Bath, Somerset, on 3 Apr. 1757; attended Winchester School; and went up to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1774 as a Somerset scholar (matric. 1774, BA 1777, MA 1781, DCL 1787). He was admitted to the College of Advocates as a civil lawyer in 1788 and was widely respected in that role. He remained unmarried. His literary versatility was displayed early: as an undergraduate he wrote a libretto (listed here) that was performed at Drury Lane. R. B. Sheridan (q.v.) recruited him to write on the Whig side during the Westminster election of 1784, and besides his contributions to The Rolliad he wrote anonymous pamphlets on their behalf. Edmund Burke (1729-97) was a close friend, and Laurence served as one of his literary executors and editors after his death. He may have taken over from Burke as editor of the Annual Register in the late 1780s. Although he is said to have been less effective as a speaker than as a writer, Laurence had a distinguished public career. In 1791 he became a judge of the court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports. He was made Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1796; in the same year he was elected MP for Peterborough. He held both positions until his sudden death on 26 Feb. 1809 at the home of one of his brothers in Eltham, Kent, where he was buried on 8 Mar. His Poetical Remains together with those of his brother Richard, archbishop of Cashel, were collected and published in 1872. (ODNB 30 Dec. 2024; ancestry.com 31 Dec. 2024; findmypast.com 31 Dec. 2024; Bury and Norwich Post 8 Mar. 1809; Alumni Oxonienses) HJ