Author: Twiss, Horace
Biography:
TWISS, Horace (1787-1849: findmypast.com)
The eldest son of Francis Twiss and his wife Frances Kemble, he was born in London on 28 Feb. 1787 and baptised on 24 Mar. at St. Giles in the Fields. His mother, of the great Kemble theatrical family, was a sister of Sarah Siddons. Twiss began to study law at the Inner Temple in 1806, was called to the bar in 1811, and practised as a barrister all his life, but he was always interested in politics and literature. In 1812 he furnished lyrics for Henry R. Bishop's Selection of Scotish Melodies; in 1814 he published, under the pseudonym "C.," a set of Posthumous Parodies. In 1819 his tragedy The Carib Chief was performed to some success, with Edmund Kean in the leading role. From 1820 to 1831 he was an MP with administrative responsibilities culminating in a term as Under-Secretary of War and the Colonies in 1828-30. He opposed the Reform Bill and was then out of Parliament for several years but returned briefly 1835-7. He became a parliamentary reporter for The Times and wrote his most significant book, a biography of Lord Chancellor Eldon (1844), for which he was rewarded with a sinecure position as vice-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. With his first wife Anne Lawrence, whom he married in Walcot, Somerset, in 1817, he had an only daughter; with the second, Ann L. A. (Sterkey) Greenwood, whom he married at St. George's Hanover Square in 1830, an only son. (The ODNB entry is surprisingly faulty on several crucial dates.) He died very suddenly of a heart attack while delivering a speech at a meeting of an Assurance Society, and was buried in the Inner Temple Vault in the Temple Church. (findmypast 30 Nov. 2020; ODNB 30 Nov. 2020; GM June 1849, 649-52)
Other Names:
- C.