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611:. In 1765, Holcroft's cousin Margaretta, daughter of his uncle John Holcroft (or "Houldcraft") by his second marriage in 1754 with Margaret Marsack, was just ten years old. Till her death in January 1785 she remained unmarried, although a mother of three children by a relationship with William Roome. According to her will (National Archives PROB 11/1126/89, Kew, dated 1 February 1785), "Margaretta Holcroft Roome, Spinster of Saint Marylebone, Middlesex" named her half-brother Charles Marsack as her executor.
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385:, ed. C. E. Norton, 1887, i., pp. 93–95) in 1828; after Badam's death (1833), she in 1835 married Barham Cole Mergez, her half-sister's Sophia son from her second marriage who in 1846 inherited the title "baron" from his father. The son Thomas Holcroft Jr. (1803–1852) was a clerk in the House of Commons and spent several years in India, before becoming a journalist in 1822, who some time was Paris correspondent for the
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and had with her two children: a son
William (1773–1789), who being only sixteen, committed suicide while attempting to escape to the West Indies after robbing his father of £40 (Memoirs, pp. 140–142), and a daughter Sophia (1775–1850), who in 1794 married William Cole, a merchant from Exeter.
148:
When
Holcroft's job at the stables came to an end, he returned to assist his father, who had resumed his trade of shoemaker in London. Around 1765, he became a teacher in a small school in Liverpool. However, he failed in an attempt to set up a private school, and instead became the
137:, London. His father had a shoemaker's shop and kept riding horses for hire, but he fell into difficulties and was reduced to hawking as a pedlar. The son accompanied his parents on their travels. He obtained work as a stable boy at
256:(SCI) in 1792 and was appointed a member of a liaison committee to work with the LCS in early 1794. As a result of his activism, Holcroft was indicted in the autumn of 1794 for high treason and held in Newgate Prison whilst
299:, the remainder of the decade was marked by unsuccessful attempts to return to the public eye. He died in 1809, not long after a deathbed reconciliation with his closest friend from the 1790s (lately estranged),
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After nine years as a widower, Holcroft married his fourth wife, Louisa
Mercier (1779–1853), in March 1799. She was the daughter of a longstanding friend, Charles-André Mercier, brother of the French dramatist
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From his first wife, whom he married around 1765 and whose name is unknown, he had a daughter Ann (1766–1841), who in 1797 married
Colonel William Tooke Harwood (1757–1824), a close associate of
114:(10 December 1745 – 23 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet, novelist and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped
373:(1813–14). From 1805 to 1806, she also translated seven plays (from German, Italian, and Spanish) for her father's "Theatrical Recorder" and later wrote a melodrama of her own.
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called "acquitted felons", Holcroft's post-arrest reputation meant that his plays achieved little success after 1795, although he was instrumental in bringing
381:(1740–1814). From this marriage came four sons and two daughters. The daughter Louisa (1801–1869) became the wife of Carlyle's friend John Badams (Carlyle,
648:
145:, where he spent his evenings chiefly on miscellaneous reading and the study of music. He gradually obtained a knowledge of French, German and Italian.
561:
Karr, David S. (July 2001). ""Thoughts That Flash like
Lightning": Thomas Holcroft, Radical Theater, and the Production of Meaning in 1790s London".
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In 1778, three years after the death of his second wife, Holcroft married Diana
Robinson, who died in 1780 after giving birth to a daughter
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365:(1780–1844). Fanny Holcroft was the author of the noted Romantic anti-slavery poem, "The Negro" (1797), as well as novels such as
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For more on
Holcroft's activities in the SCI, and the connections between his theatrical and political dissent, see:
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Memoirs written by
Himself and continued down to the Time of his Death, from his Diary, Notes and other Papers
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Bour, Isabelle (July 1993). "Raison, esprit, psyché dans les romans révolutionaires de Thomas
Holcroft".
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proceeded. In early
December 1794 Holcroft was discharged without trial after those cases, against
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theatre. He went on to act in various strolling companies until 1778, when he produced the play
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Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft: Written by Himself; and Continued to the Time of His Death
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393:(1780–1849), the dramatist, in 1812 and became the mother of three sons and three daughters.
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and secretary of the Asiatic Society. The widowed Louisa Mercier Holcroft remarried
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She resided later at Hamburg, and in 1805, after Cole's death, was married to
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Bulletin de la Société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles
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Travels from Hamburg through Westphalia, Holland and the Netherlands to Paris
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There is no proof for saying he married his cousin, half-sister of Major
657:. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 582.
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until he had memorized the whole. His translation of it, with the title
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Re-viewing Thomas Holcroft, 1745-1809: Essays on His Works and Life
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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Thomas Holcroft's Revolutionary Drama: Reception and Afterlives
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Two years later Holcroft went to Paris as correspondent of the
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Portrait, oil on canvas, of Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809) by
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Markley, A. A. and Miriam L. Wallace."Introduction."
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705:. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
232:Letters Between Frederic II and M. De Voltaire
349:In 1772 Holcroft married Matilda Tipler from
279:to Britain at the end of the decade with his
19:For other people named Thomas Holcroft, see
699:Holcroft, Thomas; Hazlitt, William (1852).
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742:Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
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287:(1802, an unacknowledged translation of
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264:secretary Thomas Hardy, and SCI figure
237:Sympathetic to the early ideals of the
185:. Here he attended the performances of
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342:(1736–1812) and a fervent follower of
254:Society for Constitutional Information
16:English dramatist and poet (1745–1809)
295:). Despite a modicum of success with
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335:Thomas Holcroft married four times.
133:Holcroft was born in Orange Court,
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806:English dramatists and playwrights
695:. Bucknell University Press, 2023.
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159:The Crisis; or, Love and Famine
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175:Literary and political career
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226:(1794–1797). He also wrote
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563:Journal of British Studies
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258:three other treason trials
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654:Encyclopædia Britannica
622:Retrieved 30 July 2012.
468:The Man of Ten Thousand
379:Louis-SĂ©bastien Mercier
252:in 1791. He joined the
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371:The Wife and the Lover
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195:The Follies of the Day
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460:The Force of Ridicule
452:The Deserted Daughter
367:Fortitude and Frailty
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780:'He's Much To Blame'
323:'Thomas Holcroft' -
201:in 1784. His comedy
141:, at the stables of
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218:(the first British
210:His novels include
143:Hon. Richard Vernon
508:The Vindictive Man
484:He's Much to Blame
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60:1745-12-10
677:: 71–82.
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234:(1789).
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303:. His
155:Dublin
73:London
587:S2CID
579:JSTOR
516:Notes
307:, by
212:Alwyn
161:, at
153:in a
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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