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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.
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