Author: Wolcot, John
Biography:
WOLCOT, John (1738-1819: ODNB) pseudonym Peter Pindar
The son of Alexander Wolcot, a surgeon, and his wife Mary Ryder, he was born at Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, Devon. His early life was unsettled: he changed schools and occupations frequently. He was educated at Crispin’s Free Grammar School in Kingsbridge, at Liskeard grammar school, and at Dr. Fisher’s Academy, Bodmin, Cornwall. At seventeen he was apprenticed to his uncle, a surgeon-apothecary in Fowey, Cornwall, with whom he had been living since the death of Alexander Wolcot in 1751. In about 1761 he spent a year in France; this was followed by three years in London completing his medical training. He was ambitious of achieving financial security and, to that end, he earned his medical degree from the University of Aberdeen in 1767 and sailed for Jamaica as physician to the household of the governor, Sir William Trelawney. This did not achieve the improvement in his finances that he desired and for a time he failed to settle on any one path: he travelled several times back and forth to Jamaica, decided to become a minister and was ordained in 1769, and worked as a physician in both Jamaica and Truro. Finally, in 1781 he went to try his luck in London initially by mentoring a young Cornish painter, John Opie. Wolcot submitted verse to periodicals but he only really achieved notice when he began publishing satire under the pseudonym Peter Pindar. It was as Peter Pindar that Wolcot became famous and secured the level of financial security he desired. His anti-establishment verse was so successful that he was offered—and in 1795 accepted—a government pension on condition that he write for rather than against the administration. Although more timid in person than his rambunctious squibs would indicate, he became a well-known figure in social and literary circles. His output was extraordinary with most of his work being topical and ephemeral; he attacked fools and rogues in high office rather than any particular political ideology. Despite several romances, he never married and he died at home near Euston Square, Somers Town, London. He was buried in St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden. His will shared his estate among friends and servants and is remarkable for having multiple codicils. (ODNB 31 Dec. 2020; ancestry.co.uk 31 Dec. 2020)
Other Names:
- Wolcot