Author: Randall, John
Biography:
RANDALL, John (1745-1827: findmypast.co.uk)
He was probably the John Randall who was baptised at Barnstaple, Devon, on 15 Sept. 1745, the son of Thomas Randall and his wife Dorothy. Nothing is known of his education. He may also have been the John Randall who married Elizabeth Williams at Barnstaple on 29 July 1777. He worked as a clerk in the Customs House and retired at an unknown date and received a pension. Although little else is as yet known about him, he appears to have been well-known locally and Chanter records “several brochures” (unidentified) as attributed to him. His best known work, listed here, was a long satire in six cantos on local figures, imitative of Pope’s Dunciad (1728/43). He also wrote An Address to the Electors of the United Kingdom in General, and the Borough of Barnstaple in Particular (1816), which drew attention to the agricultural and manufacturing hardships in the aftermath of the war. He died on 22 Dec. 1827, aged 82, and was buried at Barnstaple. (findmypast.co.uk 23 Nov. 2024; North Devon Journal 27 Dec. 1827; John Roberts Chanter, Sketches of the Literary History of Barnstaple [1866], 37-40; West Country Poets, 395) AA
Other Names:
- J. Randall