Author: Nairne, Edward
Biography:
NAIRNE, Edward (1741-99: findmypast.co.uk)
He was baptised on 18 Nov. 1741 at St. Peter’s, Sandwich, the youngest of eight children of George Nairne (1696-1747) and his wife Sarah Walraven (1700-89) who had married in 1722. He was apprenticed to John Middleton, an attorney in Deal, on 1 Dec. 1757. He married Sarah Brice on 2 Apr. 1768 at St. Peter’s, and they had two sons and two daughters. She died in early May 1775, probably from childbirth complications. He then married Elizabeth Newcombe on 4 April 1780 at Thanet, Kent, and they had seven sons and two daughters. After qualifying as an attorney, he arranged loans for local merchants as a money-scrivener and eventually became Supervisor of Customs at Sandwich with additional duties of recruitment during the war. He died on 5 July 1799 and was buried at St. Clement’s, Sandwich, five days later. His tales consistof pedlars, beggars, thieves, gypsies and dancing Dutch bears, written mostly in doggerel. The first edition is of some interest because of the use of Kent dialect which was toned down in the later edition. (findmypast.co.uk 15 May 2021; ancestry.co.uk 15 May 2021; Kentish Weekly 9 July 1799; GM July 1799, 626) AA