Author: Oulton, Walley Chamberlain
Biography:
OULTON, Walley Chamberlain (1762-1840: ODNB)
Born in Dublin in the year of his parents’ marriage, Oulton was the eldest son of Walley Oulton (1737-1774) and his wife, Elizabeth Walker (b 1747). Upon the death of his father, he was deserted by his mother. He then lived with and was educated by his maternal grandfather, Dr Chamberlaine Walker (d 1788). On 4 Nov. 1787 at St Luke’s, Chelsea, he married Ann Elizabeth Churchill. There were four children by the marriage, Ann Elizabeth (1789-1871), Julia (1791), John (b 1793), and Thomas (b 1796). His daughter Ann, who cared for him in his waning years, became an author of children’s books. His employment as actor, journalist, and writer, and his eclectic mix of publications—plays, editions, and original prose—suggests a frantic effort to live by literature. Fame and financial success eluded him. His first known play, The Haunted Castle, was staged in Dublin in Dec. 1783. His nondramatic publications include William and Charles: Or, The Bold Adventurers written in Letters and Narrative (1788); The Busy Body, A Collection of Periodical Essays, Moral, Whimsical, Comic, and Sentimental (1789); History of the Theatre of London (1796); Authentic Memoirs of the Green Room (1799); Beauties of Kotzebue (1799); Beauties of Ann Seward (1801); Poems of William Shakespeare (1804); The Traveller’s Guide; or, English Itinerary (1805); The Works of the late George Alexander Stevens (1807); Authentic and Impartial Memoirs of Her Late Majesty, Charlotte (1819); and Picture of Margate and Its Vicinity (1820), along with several other books. Judging from the number of editions, his most successful publication was The English Tutor; or, Juvenile Assistant: Being a Collection of Familiar Letters, supposed to be from a Father to his Daughter, relative to the duties of a Governess (1809). Of his many books, only those on the theatre are still consulted. In 1818, when his fortunes collapsed, he turned to the RLF; it granted him £10. In 1833 he again begged the RLF for relief and was granted £20. At the time of his death, 21 June 1840, he was resident at 25 Castle Street, Leicester Square. He was buried in St Martin in the Fields, Westminster. (ODNB 3 June 2023; RLF #384; ancestry.com 17 June 2023; Public Characters [1823] 3:68-69) JC
Other Names:
- W. C. Oulton