Author: Maclaren, Archibald
Biography:
MACLAREN, Archibald (1755-1826: ODNB)
Soldier and dramatist, Maclaren was born in Scotland, probably in the highlands, on 2 Mar. 1755. No public records have been found of his origins, parentage, or marriage, but there was a Memoir of him by James Maidment, with a long list of his works, that appeared in 1835 and provides some details. He enlisted in the British army and fought in the American War of Independence; he managed to publish poems in periodicals in Philadelphia and New York while he was there. His first theatrical works, a farce (1781) and a musical entertainment (1783), were published in Scotland after the regiment returned to recruit. Discharged after the war, Maclaren went on stage as a performer and continued to write and publish farces, comedies, afterpieces, interludes, etc. for a lifetime total of at least 83. In 1794 he re-enlisted, this time as a sergeant in the Dunbartonshire Highlanders, and was posted to Ireland at the time of the 1798 rebellion. His only known non-dramatic prose works are accounts of his experiences there. Discharged with a small pension in 1798, he settled in London and married a woman named Helen with whom he had eleven children, only four of whom survived him. Even with his army pension and his literary income, he struggled to support his family. At the time of his first application to the RLF in 1807 he had four children and a pregnant wife dependent on him but was so poor that he could not afford paper to write on. In a second application of 1810, a letter of support declared that the family was on the brink of starvation. There is no record of an award in either case (no note on the file or receipt from the applicant) and most probably both appeals were rejected. He died in London and was buried at St. Anne, Soho, on 9 Mar. 1826. His wife may have been the Ellen Maclaren (1774-1827) who was buried there on 23 Sept. 1827. (ODNB 15 Feb. 2023; DNB; findmypast.com 15 Feb. 2023; RLF #201)