Author: Letche, J. P.
Biography:
LETCHE, J. P. (c. 1780-1850: ancestry.com)
Sacred Poetry by “a layman” (1835) is a puzzle on several counts. Bibliographically, it is unusual to find a “new edition” of 194 pages, published in London (and printed in Surrey) by a reputable press, with no trace of any earlier edition—but that is the case here. This bibliography does include six versions dating from 1823 to 1834, numbered between “second” and “twelfth” editions, of an anonymous book entitled Sacred Poetry with no subtitle (and many more with subtitles) but most of them were published in Scotland and a brief examination suggests that they are not the same text. The work is attributed in some library catalogues to “J. P. Letche” who does not appear ever to have published anything else; the origin of the attribution is a mystery, and it could be incorrect. J. P. Letche can, however, be identified. He was a Londoner, John Pitt Letche, who died and was buried on 11 June 1850 at St. Mary, Paddington Green, aged 70. He had married Mary Langton at St. George the Martyr, Queen Square, on 29 May 1814. In the 1841 census he and his wife are recorded as residents still of that parish, and his profession is given as “Accountant.” There do not appear to have been children. No birth record has been discovered but his address between 1803 and 1811 was in Hammersmith and if he was 70 at the time of his death he must have been born about 1780. In the census his age is recorded as 56, which would indicate a birth date of 1785. (ancestry.com 6 Jan. 2024; findmypast.com 6 Jan. 2024; Google Books)