Author: Richardson, John
Biography:
RICHARDSON, John (1796-1852: DCB)
The son of Madelaine (Askin) and Robert Richardson, he was born in Upper Canada, probably at Fort George (now Niagara-on-the-Lake); the family settled in Amherstburg where the boy grew up. At fifteen, on the outbreak of the War of 1812, he joined the British infantry as a volunteer. He fought alongside Native American warriors led by Tecumseh, who became the hero of his one long poem, but he was captured in 1813 and imprisoned in Kentucky. After his release in 1814 he joined other regiments, rising gradually in rank and seeing action in Europe and the Caribbean. On half-pay after 1818, he lived for some years in London and Paris, married his first wife, Jane Marsh, and began placing his writings with publishers and magazines. Tecumseh (1828) and his first novel, Ecarté (1829), were published in London, as was his breakthrough book Wacousta (1832). In all, he wrote eight historical novels, most of them in New York towards the end of his life. His first wife having died--it is not known exactly when or why--he married again in 1832. His second wife was Maria Caroline Drayson. He had no children from either marriage. Richardson fought again as a captain with the British Legion in Spain in 1835; he was decorated for courage in battle and promoted to the rank of major. In 1838 he returned to Canada as a foreign correspondent for The Times. That job did not last long but he then threw himself into politics and became the owner and editor of three short-lived newspapers. Several memoirs from this phase of his life record his difficulties with successive regimes. His wife died unexpectedly in 1845 and he had incurred debts. In 1849 he moved to New York where he hoped for and found a more appreciative mass audience for his writings. But he still could not make ends meet and died in such poverty that his friends had to take up a collection to pay his funeral expenses. (DCB 29 Jul. 2020)