Author: Nightingale, Joseph
Biography:
NIGHTINGALE, Joseph (1775-1824: ODNB)
Pseudonym J. Elagnitin
In the absence of public records of his parentage, birth, and baptism, the GM obituary provides the most reliable information about Joseph Nightingale. He was born at Chowbent (GM “Chawbert”) in Lancashire, on 26 Oct. 1775. He was at first a schoolmaster in Macclesfield, Cheshire. From 1805 onwards he earned his living in London as a writer. He was also a preacher—for the Methodists 1796-1804 and for the Unitarians from 1805. In 1824 he rejoined the Methodists. His first known publication, however, was a tribute to a Church of England priest, Rev. David Simpson (d 1799) of the Macclesfield Chapel at Prestbury, Cheshire: Elegiac Thoughts (1799) consists of nine pages of verse and some extracts from Simpson’s published works. Nightingale married Margaret Goostry (1778-1864?) of Prestbury at that church on 17 Nov. 1799; they had four children, only one of whom grew to maturity. Nightingale’s output was very varied. His History of Methodism (1807) was controversial but he was successful in recovering damages for libel on its account; he went on to produce serious work in comparative religion, first focused on Roman Catholicism (1812) and then on the religions of “all nations” (1821). He wrote or contributed to many topographical and antiquarian projects, including county histories, a guide to spas, surveys of London and Westminster, and the ongoing Beauties of England and Wales. He wrote an account of the trial of Queen Caroline in three volumes (1822) and a further three volumes of Memoirs of her “public and private life” (1822). The Mock Heroics listed here and published under a transparent pseudonym show his more playful side. Nightingale died in London on 9 Aug. 1824 after having long suffered a “severe disease,” and was buried as a Dissenter on 15 Aug. at Bunhill Fields. Between 1814 and 1824, Nightingale--or his wife writing on his behalf--applied to the RLF for relief several times. On the first occasion, when he had been imprisoned in the Fleet for debt, his request was rejected; then in 1817 he was given £5 and directed not to apply again; but in 1823-24 they received a total of £40. (ODNB 3 Mar. 2024; ancestry.com 3 Mar. 2024; findmypast.com 3 Mar. 2024; GM Dec. 1824, 568-9; RLF #311) HJ
Other Names:
- J. Nightingale