Author: Oram, Samuel Marsh
Biography:
ORAM, Samuel Marsh (1765-91: ancestry.co.uk)
He was the son of Archelaus Oram, writing clerk, and his wife Ann Marsh; he was baptised at Holy Trinity, Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 11 Oct. 1765, alongside his sister Sophia, who had been born three years earlier. In 1782 he was articled to an attorney, John Brickle of Shaston, Dorset, who thought very highly of him and left him a legacy. He contributed a "History and Description of Shaftesbury" signed O. M. S. to The County Magazine (1788: 47-8, 61-2, 72-3). He also contributed three sonnets to the Gentleman’s Magazine (Dec. 1789, 1131; Jan. 1790, 74). He died 13 Nov. 1791 at Shaftesbury and was buried on the 21st. The obituary in the GM (1791) noted his concern that, on his death, his mother (Ann) and three sisters (Harriet, Sophia, and Frances) would be unprovided for although the family was never poor. Although his output was slight, consisting of ten sonnets, a topographical poem on the River Stour, and two odes, he was quite highly regarded, reprinted, and in the collective memory of the Romantic poets was linked to Chatterton and Kirke White (qq.v.). (ancestry.co.uk 9 Oct. 2020; findmypast.co.uk 9 Oct. 2020; GM Dec. 1791, 1159; Percival Stockdale, "Remarks" in Poems [1794] i-xi) AA