THELWALL, JOHN (1764 - 1834), reformer, lecturer and poet

son of Joseph Thelwall (1731 - 1772), silk merchant of London, descended from a branch of the Thelwall family of Plas y Ward which settled in Crosby, Lancashire. He was born at Chandos Street, Covent Garden, 27 July 1764. He published Poems upon various subjects (London, 1787), and became editor of Biographical and Imperial Magazine. He came under the spell of the French Revolution, and joined the Society of the Friends of the People. Because of his extreme radical views, he had to stand trial, 1-5 December 1794, having been imprisoned in the Tower of London since the previous May; however, he was found not guilty. Soon afterwards he published Poems written in close confinement in the Town and Newgate (London, 1795). He took a farm near Llyswen, Breck., c. 1798, but returned to London within two years to lecture mainly on oratory and elocution. He was a friend of Southy, Hazlitt, Coleridge, and Lamb. Poems chiefly written in retirment … with a prefatory memoir of the life of the author (Hereford, 1801) contains several poems relating to Wales. Thelwall also wrote a number of works on political matters and oratory.

He died at Bath, 17 February 1834. He married (1), Susan Vellum, (2) Cecil Boyle.

Author

• Dr David Jenkins, (1912 - 2002)

Sources

• Poems Chiefly Written in Retirement. The Fairy of the Lake, a dramatic romance; Effusions of Relative and Social Feeling; and specimens of the Hope of Albion, or Edwin of Northumbria; an epic poem … With a prefatory Memoir of the life of the author and notes and illustrations of Runic mythology (1801), (1801)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: John Thelwall

Additional Links

• VIAF: 37726570
• Wikidata: Q519393

Published date: 2001

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