Author: Shakeshaft, John
Biography:
SHAKESHAFT, John (fl 1815-24)
The fact that John Shakeshaft was a dissenter may account for the limited information available about him in public records. All that can be said of him with confidence is that he was the author of four short works in verse published between 1815 and 1824, all of them pious: a broadside elegy for Mary Mayhew, wife of Isaac Mayhew, who died in Croydon, Surrey, on 31 Dec. 1814 aged 24 (1815); a “paraphrase” of Gen. 22 (claimed on a later title-page but not located); A Crumb from the Master’s Table (1818); and the three-page Faith and Works (1824), another “paraphrase.” The last of these, at least, was available for purchase at the Mount Sion Chapel in Worship Street, east London. Most of the men of his name and presumed age were born outside London, in Cheshire or Lincolnshire, but he was a resident of the city at the time of publication. It is possible that he was John Shakeshaft, a “respectable chemist” who lived in Rotherhithe, in the same house as his mother, who committed suicide by cutting his throat in 1828, aged 34. He was found by a servant in the coal cellar; the coroner gave a ruling of insanity. (ancestry.com 11 Oct. 2024; findmypast.com 11 Oct. 2024; SJC 19 Aug. 1828)
Other Names:
- J. Shakeshaft