Author: Strang, John
Biography:
STRANG, John (c. 1779-1865: findmypast.com)
The best evidence about John Strang comes from his works and from census records. He was born in Scotland about 1780 but exact details are lacking. He must have had a good classical education, since his poetry is urbane and includes imitations of Horace with the Latin and English on facing pages. Strang trained as a surgeon and joined the navy in 1799. In 1812 he published two books, The Cruise: with Other Poems and Letters to a Student of Medicine . . . with a Comparison of the Conditions of Naval, Military, and Private Practitioners. The volume of verse is dedicated to Captain George Scott (1783-1867), whom he had served under. One of the poems is an elegy for another Scottish naval surgeon, Andrew Craig. It also includes a poem about his decision to retire from active duty. He went on half-pay and appears to have lived on that for the rest of his life—but he might also have had independent means, or have married well. On 30 Apr. 1813, as ship’s surgeon of HMS Corso, he married Sophia Douglas (1787-1849) of Portsea, Hampshire, at Portsea. They had an only child, William, born in the same year, who became a physician with a practice in Brighton, Sussex, and a family of his own. In the census of 1841 they are all listed as living at Hampshire Terrace, Portsea. By 1851 John Strang was a widower, head of a household at Westbourne, Sussex, with his son, daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and two servants. By 1861 he was living at Brighton in the household of his son William. He died there of bronchitis on 21 July 1865, aged 86. (findmypast.com 11 Dec. 2024; ancestry.com 11 Dec. 2024; The Globe 3 Mar. 2024; Brighton Gazette 27 July 1865; GRO death cert.)