Author: Soane, George
Biography:
SOANE, George (1790-1860: WBIS)
He was the younger son of the architect Sir John Soane (1757-1837) and his wife Elizabeth Smith. Shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1811 he married Agnes, a daughter of the dramatist and journalist James Boaden (1762-1839), against his parents' wishes and by his own admission to "spite" them; they had three children, two of whom survived infancy. The consequent estrangement was made worse as George Soane turned out to be financially undependable and an abusive husband; furthermore he fathered a child with his wife's sister. Like his father-in-law, Soane made a living by writing. He was the author of many pieces for the stage--farces, tragedies, adaptations, translations, but especially melodramas--as well as novels and journalism. Two anonymous attacks on Sir John's work that appeared in 1815 were the last straw: widely known to be by him, they were believed to have hastened his mother's death, and his father disinherited him. When Sir John Soane died leaving George only £52 p.a. (with another £40 to Agnes protected from claims by her husband), George contested the will without success. Predeceased by his wife but attended by his daughter, he died at home in Marylebone. ("Soane, George" and "Soane, Sir John," ODNB 4 Oct. 2020; "Soane, George," Wikipedia 4 Oct. 2020)
Other Names:
- G. Soane