Author: Woodhouse, James
Biography:
WOODHOUSE, James (1735-1820: ODNB)
He was baptized 18 Apr. 1735, the eldest son of the six children of Joseph Woodhouse (1707-1776) and his wife Mary Bridgewater (1695-1790) of Rowley Regis, near Birmingham. They were yeoman farmers on a property that had been in the family for centuries. His experience of literary patronage is a focus of scholarly study. Woodhouse was encouraged to write by Joseph Spence, professor of poetry at Oxford; by his near-neighbour William Shenstone; by Lord Lyttleton; and by booksellers Robert and James Dodsley. Among his other patrons were William Dodd, Edward Jerningham, Hester Lynch Piozzi (qq.v.), Edmund Burke, and David Hume. In London, he made the acquaintance of Dr Samuel Johnson (q.v.). He characterized the patronage of a cousin of Mary Wortley Montagu (q.v.), Elizabeth Montagu, and her husband, as a kind of “bondage.” Unhappy with Woodhouse’s Methodism, the Montagus terminated his service as bailiff at their country estate. Now patronized by James Dodley, in 1788 he commenced a bookselling business at 10 Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. On 7 Jan. 1760 at Rowley Regis he married Hannah (1742-1800), a daughter of Thomas and Catherine Fletcher. Hannah was already pregnant with their first daughter (bap. 13 July 1760, name unknown). They had at least four other children: Charles (1761-1810), Charlotte (1763-1815), Elizabeth (b 1765), and George Edward (1767-1813). Having been injured in London in a street accident, he died in Feb 1820 and was buried on 1 Apr. at St George’s Chapel, Hanover Square. He left a legacy of £5,000 to his sole surviving daughter, Elizabeth. Notably, W. H. Auden’s great-great-grandparents were James Woodhouse’s cousin Phoebe Woodhouse (1758-1828) and her husband, John Auden (1758-1834). (ODNB 18 May 2024; PROB 11/1634; PROB 11/1544; Poetical Calendar 1763; London Magazine 1764; GM [1764], 289-90; Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, 2 vols. [1896]) JC