Author: Oakman, John
Biography:
OAKMAN, John (1748?-1793: ODNB)
Born in Hendon Middlesex to parents whose names are not recorded, he was apprenticed to the map engraver Emanuel Bowen but did not complete his indenture. One of the reasons was that he had seduced Bowen's daughter, whom he married--presumably against her parents' wishes--when he came of age. He scraped a living by selling prints, writing risqué novels as well as "moral songs" for children, and composing songs for performance at Vauxhall and elsewhere. He seems to have been restless and peripatetic. He died in poverty in London at the house of his sister, who kept a butcher's shop. Henry Lemoine (q.v.) wrote a colourful and sympathetic account of his life for the Gentleman's Magazine which is the primary source of information about him. (GM 63 [Dec. 1793] 1080-1; ODNB 19 May 2020) HJ