Author: Rodd, Thomas
Biography:
RODD, Thomas (1763-1822: ODNB)
Pseudonym a young Gentleman
A son of merchant Charles Rodd (b 1732) and his wife, Charlotte Naish (b 1739), the poet was baptized on 10 Feb. 1763 at St Paul, Covent Garden (therefore not born 17 Feb., as in ODNB). Having been educated at Charterhouse school (1772 to 1778) and at the Protestant School in St Quentin, France, he worked for three years in his father’s counting house at Alicante in Spain. Possibly to escape close parental supervision, upon his return to England he lived first with his great-uncle the Rev. Ezekial Rouse of Welwyn, Hertfordshire, and then with his great-uncle the Rev. William Rouse, rector of Clophill, Bedfordshire. In the 1780s and 1790s, he worked the Berkshire property he possessed at Waltham, St Lawrence, where the father of the poet and bookseller Francis Newbery (q.v.) lived. His first book, The Theriad, was ill-received by the MR critic who cringed at “the flippant smartness of the verses.” (Though the title page states 1790, the book was published in 1789.) The poet married 27 Mar. 1794 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, a wealthy farmer’s daughter, Elizabeth (1765-1813), a sister of Thomas Inskip, the friend of Robert Bloomfield and John Clare (qq.v). He and Elizabeth had a daughter, Sophia, and two boys, Thomas and Horatio. From the proceeds of the sale of his Berkshire property, in 1798 with a partner, Harrison, he established an artificial-jewellery business in Gerrard Street, Westminster. In 1801, he was imprisoned for debt in Warwick Gaol and his business was declared bankrupt. That same year, he published two books, Ancient Ballads, dedicated by permission to Georgianna Cavendish (q.v.), and a translation of Las Guerras Civiles. His great interest in books led in about 1812 to his opening a bookstore and publishing concern at 2 Great Newport Street, London. From there he published bibliographically significant catalogues. In 1819, he transferred ownership of the bookstore to his sons. He died less than a year into his retirement, on 27 Nov. 1822 at Clothall End, near Baldock, Hertfordshire. Three days later, he was buried in St Mary’s, Baldock, churchyard. (ODNB 19 Apr. 2024; ancestry.com 15 Apr. 2024; London Gazette [1-5 Dec. 1801], 1445; GM 31:185 [1849], 653) JC