Author: Orme, J. B.
Biography:
ORME, J. B. (fl 1799-1806)
His name and initials are relatively uncommon; there are several plain James or John Ormes in the genealogical record of births in Britain between 1750 and 1790 but only two with the initials J. B., one of whom would have been 12 when Orme’s first book was published. He might have been related to but was not an immediate member of the Manchester family that produced the prominent London artists and publishers Daniel, Edward, and William Orme. The most likely candidate is Joseph Boardman Orme, son of Dorothy (Boardman) and Thomas Orme, baptised in Didbury, Lancashire, on 24 Feb. 1771. In 1791 he is recorded as a “Jeweller and Hardware and Toy Merchant” in Manchester. If he was that person, it would seem that he was among the many young men who made their way to London to try in vain to earn a living as a writer. No record of marriage or death has been located with his full name. Identifying himself as “Gent.” or “Esq.,” he published three unsuccessful volumes of verse between 1799 and 1806, found himself in serious financial distress, and was imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea in 1806. In 1805 he applied to the RLF and was awarded £10, but when he applied again in 1806 the committee found his claim “questionable” and rejected it, furthermore putting a note on his file that he was not to be taken notice of in future. He evidently turned away from poetry: his monody on William Pitt includes a substantial amount of historical evidence in prose, and his last letter to the RLF indicates that he was working on a biography. In Dec. 1815 he embarked on a career in law when he was admitted to Gray’s Inn; by 1818 he was in practice as a Special Pleader at Clement’s Inn. Joseph Boardman Orme (if that was he) is last seen on a list of bankrupts called to surrender in 1824, with an address in High Holborn, London. (ancestry.com 23 Mar. 2024; findmypast.com 23 Mar. 2024; RLF #178; Poetical Register for 1806-7 [1811], 513; ODNB [Ormes] 23 Mar. 2024; Joseph Foster, Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn, 1521-1889 [1889], 417, 471; Law Chronicle 8 Apr. 1824; contributions by AA)