Who was Charles Lamb?
Essayist, Critic, and Poet.
Date and Place of Birth:
12th February 1775, London, England.
Family Background:
Son of a Scrivener who was confidential clerk
to Samuel Salt one of the bencher's of the Inner Temple.
Education:
Christ's Hospital, London, where he met and became
a lifelong friend of, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Chronology/Biography of Charles Lamb:
1789: Went to work
as a clerk at the South Sea House.
1792: Transferred
to India House. Death of Mr Salt left the family (except for his
brother John who had a well paid job at South Sea House) in reduced
circumstances
1796: Mary, his
sister killed his mother in a fit of madness with a table knife.
(Lamb looked after her for the rest of her life and she was to be
his constant companion and the "Cousin Briget" of many
of his essays). He contributed four sonnets to Coleridge's
"Poems on Various Subjects".
1798: He published
"Blank Verse" in collaboration with his friend Charles
Lloyd (of Lloyd's Bank fame). This included "The Old Familiar
Faces" which became one of his best loved poems.
1807: Charles and
Mary had moved around from one set of lodgings to another and most
of his literary outpourings had brought neither fame nor the much
needed money. He was asked by William Godwin
to help contribute to his "Juvenile Library". To this
he contributed the work which was to become famous, "Tales
from Shakespeare". (Charles worked on the Tragedies whilst
Mary worked on the comedies).
1808: They again
collaborated on a work for Children "The Adventures of Ulysses."
1809: He was commissioned
by the publishers Longmans to edit and criticise selections from
the Elizabethan dramatists.
1812: He published
works on Hogarth and Shakespeare which appeared in the journal "The
Reflector" edited by Hunt.
1818: His many works
for various publications were brought together in the "Works
of Charles Lamb" and because of this he was asked by the "London
Magazine" to contribute a series of essays. These essays, under
the pseudonym "Elia" (named after a fellow Clerk in India
House) were to secure his fame once and for all.
1820-25: First series
of "Essays of "Elia".
1823: He left London
and took up a cottage in Islington now he was earning more money.
Charles and Mary took with them Emma Isola a young orphan whom they
looked after until she married.
1825: Retired from
India House on a pension of two thirds of his salary. The Lambs
went to live at Enfield and then Edmonton.
1833: Marriage of
Emma Isola to the publisher E. Moxon. Completion of "The Last
Essays of Elia".
(1847): Death
of Mary Lamb.
Written Works:
- 1798:
"The Old Familiar Faces"."A Tale of Rosamund Gray".
- 1802:
"John Woodvil”. (Drama).
- 1803: "Hester".
- 1806:
"Mr. H". (Farce).
- 1807: "Tales
from Shakespeare". (With Mary Lamb, published at the invitation
of William Godwin).
- 1808: "The
Adventures of Ulysses".
- 1809:
"Poetry for Children".
- 1811: "On
the Tragedies of Shakespeare". "A Bachelor's Complaint
on the Behaviour of Married Couples".
- 1818:
"Collected Works". "Queen Oriana's Dream".
- 1819: "Valentine's
Day".
- 1820:
"Essays of Elia". "The South Sea House".
- 1821: "My
Relations".
- 1823:
"Essays of Elia". (2nd Edition). "Poor
Relations".
- 1825: "The
Superannuated Man".
- 1826: "The
Genteel Style in Writing". "Sanity of True Genius".
- 1827: "Angel
Help".
- 1828: "On
an Infant Dying as Soon as it was Born."
- 1830: "To
a Young Friend". "She is Going."
- 1833: "Last
Essays of Elia".
- (1837):
"Letters with a Life by Talfourd".
Marriage:
Never Married as he devoted his time to looking
after his sister.
Date and Place of Death:
27th December 1834, Edmonton, Middlesex, England
after complications to a wound suffered in a fall.
Age at Death:
58.
Site of Grave:
All Saint’s Churchyard, Edmonton, London,
England.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
British Library holds various works including
a certificate proving his acceptability to work for the East India
Company.
Further Information:
Charles Lamb Society
c/o R Healey
80 Hull Lane
Great Chisholm
Royston
Herts
SG8 8SH
