Author: ST. JOHN, James Augustus
Biography:
ST. JOHN, James Augustus, formerly James JOHN (1795-1875: ODNB)
Pseudonym Horace Gwynne
James John, the son of a Welsh shoemaker, in the course of a long life turned himself into the prolific popular writer James Augustus St. John. He was born to Gelly John (1749-1802) and Rachel William (1763-1828) on 24 Sept. 1795 at Laugharne, Carmarthenshire; briefly attended the local charity school and then was tutored in classics and modern languages by the vicar. He rounded off his education with extensive reading, and became a political radical. He seems to have changed his name just by adopting it himself. It appears in this form on the record of his marriage to Eliza Caroline Agar Hansard (d 1867) on 22 Dec. 1819 at St. Anne’s, Soho, London. The couple had eleven children, some born in France, of whom several became writers. He had a colourful literary career of which only an outline is possible. He started in London, Plymouth, and Exeter, as a contributor to and editor of radical periodicals, and graduated to more mainstream journalism as an editor of the Oriental Herald and the London Weekly Review. Later in life he contributed essays on current events, politics, and literature to most of the leading journals. His pseudonymous poem Abdallah was unsuccessful, but he turned to prose and produced novels, biographies, histories, and accounts of his own travel adventures. He went with his growing family to France and Switzerland (1829-32) and by himself to Egypt and Africa (1832-3), experiences that he published about right away but also drew on years later (e.g., Isis: An Egyptian Pilgrimage, 1853, and There and Back Again, 1853). The family settled in London at addresses not far from Regent’s Park: North Bank, Marylebone, for the censuses of 1841 and 1851, and Grove End, St. John’s Wood, for 1861 and later. Incessant writing was not quite enough to keep the wolf from the door: in 1857 St. John applied for urgent assistance from the RLF and received £80. Three of his sons also received support later. His wife Eliza died at Grove End in Oct. 1867 and he followed in Sept. 1875; he was buried in Camden in what was registered as a “civil” (not parish) ceremony. (ODNB 11 Jan. 2024; ancestry.com 11 Jan. 2024; findmypast.com 11 Jan. 2024; Globe 24 Sept. 1875; John Bull 25 Sept. 1875; RLF #1433)
Other Names:
- Horace Gwynne