Author: Procter, Bryan Waller
Biography:
PROCTER, Bryan Waller (1787-1874: ODNB)
pseudonym Barry Cornwall
He was born in Leeds, the eldest of three children of Amelia and Nicholas Procter. The family moved to London where his father made a comfortable living in business. Procter attended Harrow at the same time as Byron and qualified as a solicitor in London in 1811, then practised in various law partnerships. An inheritance from his father in 1816 gave him a reliable basic income of £500 p.a. He began contributing poems to newspapers and magazines about 1815, using the pen-name Barry Cornwall to mark a clear separation between his professional and literary lives. But his identity was an open secret. He became a member of the Hunt circle; knew Keats, though they were not close; and made many friends among London writers. With four volumes of verse between 1819 and 1821, he quickly established a name as an emerging star; his play Mirandola was a moderate success at Covent Garden. But the tide of critical approval turned with The Flood of Thessaly in 1823. In 1824 Procter married Ann Benson Skepper and returned his attention to the law. He was called to the bar in 1831 and in 1832 was appointed one of the metropolitan commissioners for lunacy, a position he held for thirty years--arduous work that involved inspecting asylums around the country. His last significant original publication was English Songs in 1832. A professional income combined with a succession of inheritances meant that the Procters could enjoy a lively social life, and their daughter Adelaide Procter became a famous poet herself (but predeceased her parents). Procter's later publications were mainly memoirs or editions of the works of others. After he died his widow, with the assistance of Coventry Patmore, published An Autobiographical Fragment and Biographical Notes in his memory (1877). (ODNB 7 Jul. 2020; Richard Marggraf Turley, Bright Stars [2009])
Other Names:
- B. W. Procter