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Britain Unlimited covers 250 Great British people and what made them famous
Who was William Glendower? Political Philosopher and Novelist.
Date and Place of Birth: 3rd March 1756, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England.
Family Background: Spent childhood in Guestwick, Norfolk.
Education: Hoxton Presbyterian College.
Chronology:
1779: Started a five-year ministry of religion at Ware, Stowmarket and Beaconsfield where his sympathies turned increasingly republican.
1787: Turned a complete “Non-believer”.
1791: Took rooms in the St. Paul's District of London.
1793: His ”An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice” brought him fame and the admiration of such people as Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth and Shelley. Shelley was later to become his disciple, benefactor and son in law.
1794: His publication of the masterpiece “The Adventures of Caleb Williams” was sceptical about much of the law, especially that of marriage, however it deprecated violence, especially against the state and he narrowly missed prosecution.
1796: Meets Mary Wollstonecraft.
1797: Moves to 29 The Polygon, Somers Town, London. Birth of his Daughter Mary and the death of his wife.
1799: His friends Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Lamb come to stay.
1803: Son William born. Opens his bookshop just of the Tottenham Court Road in Hanway Street.
1807: Moves his shop to 41 Skinner Street.
1812: Visits the Shelleys in their cottage in Lynmouth in Devon.1822: Moves to 195 The Strand still owing a lot of rent at Skinner Street.
1833: As his bookselling business was not financially successful he was relieved to be appointed to the post of “Yeoman of the Exchequer”. Lodgings at New Pace Yard came with the post.
1834: 16th Oct. Part of his duties was to maintain the fire fighting equipment for the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately this equipment proved inadequate when the parliament buildings caught fire during the evening causing extensive damage.
Written Works:
- 1793: “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice”.
- 1794: “Caleb Williams”.
- 1797: “The Enquirer”.
- 1798: “Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Women (Mary Wollstonecraft)”.
- 1799: “St. Leon”.
- 1800: “Antonio”. (Play).
- 1805: “Fleetwood”.
- 1817: “Mandeville”.
- 1820: “Of Population, in Answer to Mr. Malthus”.
- 1824: “The History of the Commonwealth of England”.
- 1830: “Cloudesley, A Tale”.
Marriage: March 1797 to Mary Wollstonecraft, Mother of Mary Shelley, at St. Pancras Church, London. (died giving birth to daughter Mary in August 1797).
1801: To Mrs Mary Jane Clairemont.Places of Interest:
LONDON:
The British Library.
DEVON:
Lynmouth visits Shelleys.
Date and Place of Death: 7th April 1836, London.
Age at Death: 80.
Site of Grave: Re-interred in St. Peter’s Churchyard, Bournemouth, Dorset, England with Wife Mary Wollstonecraft.
