Author: Masterton, Charles
Biography:
MASTERTON, Charles (fl 1811-32)
The only reliable evidence that has been found about the identity of Charles Masterton, Esq. comes from his publications, and they tell a story of persistence in the face of repeated loss or rejection. According to the preface to his first book, The Seducer (1811), dedicated to two personal friends unknown to history, he had composed several tragedies for the London stage but failed to find a manager interested in them; publication was his way of securing an audience. Most of his works are dated from residences in London. Amyntor had a chilly review in 1816 in which it was described as the work of a young but “unskilful” poet. Only one of seven titles achieved a second edition (Stern Resolve, 1837). The Tempest-song of 1817 is dedicated to “no one” because his parents are dead, he has no friends, and “my destiny’s to be ill-fated.” His origins are obscure. He might have been a Scot: there are several records for men of his name and age born there, ranging from lower working-class to gentry. If so, he was one of many Scots in the period who received a solid literary education and then went to London to seek their fortunes. He is not the Charles Masterson, born in Culross, who married in London in 1811 and was working as a clerk in the East India Office in 1824: that man died in 1826. But he might have been the one who secured a position as an assistant translator in the office of the Secretary of State 1825-1830, and therefore possibly also the one who went out to Bolivia as British Vice-Consul in the late 1830s and died there at Chuquisaca in 1847. (findmypast.com 10 Apr. 2023; ancestry.com 10 Apr. 2023; CR 4 [1816] 429-30; General Report of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners [1843] 2:498) HJ