Author: STOWELL, John
Biography:
STOWELL, John (1762-99: findmypast.com)
Pseudonyms John Sharp, Junior; Candidus
John Stowell or Stowel was a Manxman, the eldest of at least four sons of Anne (Brown) and Thomas Stowell, baptised on 13 Apr. 1762 at Douglas, Isle of Man. No details of his education are known but two of his brothers became professional men on the island, one a clergyman and the other a lawyer, and he would eventually be employed as a schoolmaster and notary public. He published various occasional poems on local and political subjects, many of them short--broadsides or contributions to the Manks Mercury, a newspaper founded in 1792—and the most successful of them satirical and consequently anonymous or pseudonymous. For reasons unknown A Salad for the Young Ladies and Gentlemen of Douglas (1790) was first printed at Liverpool and then, in a second edition with a different title-page (and the spelling “Sallad”), at Douglas. A sequel, A Switch for Tom the Gardener, was printed at Douglas in the same year but at eight pages is too short to be included in this bibliography. In July 1792 Stowell accepted the position of Master at the free grammar school at Peel. He was engaged in local politics and extended his teaching duties with lessons in English grammar for young ladies. He might be the John Stowell who married Mary Radcliffe at Maughold, Isle of Man, on 2 Jan. 1798, but no baptisms are recorded and biographical notices do not mention a wife. On 26 Jan. 1799 he was appointed a notary public, but he died suddenly at Peel and was buried at Braddan on 21 July 1799. (findmypast.com 11 Jan. 2025; ancestry.com 11 Jan. 2025; A. W. Moore, Manx Worthies [1901]; “Introduction to R. J. Moore’s intended edition of Stowell’s Works,” manx.net 11 Jan. 2025) HJ