Francis William Blagdon facts for kids
Francis William Blagdon (born 1777 – died 1818) was an English journalist and writer. He was known for his strong opinions and for translating many books from other languages.
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Life of Francis Blagdon
Francis Blagdon started his career as a newsboy for The Sun newspaper. Later, he became an assistant to Dr. Anthony Florian Madinger Willich, a medical writer. Dr. Willich taught him French and German. Francis also learned Spanish and Italian on his own.
Blagdon then worked with the Morning Post newspaper. He helped edit it for several years. The newspaper supported the Tory political party at the time. Blagdon wrote articles with very strong opinions. In 1805, he was put in prison for six months. This was because he wrote unfair things about John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent, a naval leader.
In 1809, Blagdon had a disagreement with William Cobbett, another writer. Blagdon announced a new newspaper called "Blagdon's Weekly Political Register." This paper was meant to write about Cobbett's life and writings. Blagdon's Register was a Sunday paper that was against Cobbett. The government even helped pay for it. However, Blagdon lost his money in business deals. Another one of his projects, The Phœnix, also failed quickly.
Francis Blagdon died from tuberculosis on Christmas Eve in 1818. He was buried in St Margaret's, Westminster. After his death, people collected money to help his wife and children, who had very little.
His Written Works
Francis Blagdon wrote and translated many different kinds of books.
Early Publications
At one point, Blagdon published a book called French Interpreter. However, it seems no copies of this book exist today. In 1802, he started editing a series called Modern Discoveries. This series had eight volumes. The first two volumes were about Vivant Denon's Travels in Egypt with Napoleon Bonaparte. The next two included Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de Golbéry's Travels in Africa. The last four volumes were about Peter Simon Pallas's Travels in the Southern Provinces of Russia. Blagdon translated all these works from French and German. He later translated Pallas's Travels again, and a new edition came out in 1812.
In 1803, Blagdon began publishing a collection of writings called Flowers of Literature with Rev. Francis Prevost. This series grew to seven volumes. In the same year, he also published Mooriana with Prevost. This book was a collection of writings from Dr. John Moore.
Books on History and Travel
In 1805, Blagdon published A Brief History of Ancient and Modern India. This three-volume work was based on a collection of aquatints (a type of print) by Edward Orme. These prints were made after artworks by William Daniell, James Hunter, and Francis Swain Ward. The book was reissued in 1813 as an extra part of Captain Thomas Williamson's European in India. In 1806, Blagdon wrote the "Memoirs" for Orme's Graphic History of the Life, Exploits, and Death of Lord Nelson.
Political Writings
In 1806, there was a political discussion about giving more rights to Catholics, known as Catholic emancipation. This led Blagdon to publish an edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It was called An Universal History of Christian Martyrdom. He said it was rewritten by "the Rev. J. Milner," but this was a fake name. He used it to make fun of the Catholic priest John Milner. Blagdon wrote more about Catholic emancipation in 1810, again using a fake name. His work on this topic was published many times over the years.
In 1812, Blagdon wrote about his dislike for France in The Situation of Great Britain in 1811. This was a translation of a French book. Another writer, John Jervis White Jervis, praised Blagdon for his writing. In 1814, Blagdon published An Historical Memento. This book celebrated the peace of 1814 and 100 years of the House of Brunswick ruling Britain. In 1819, he published a New Dictionary of Classical Quotations.
Other Interesting Works
Blagdon also wrote these books:
- The Grand Contest (1803): This book looked at the reasons and possible results of a threatened invasion of Great Britain.
- Remarks on a Pamphlet entitled "Observations on the Concise Statement of Facts by Sir Home Popham," (1805).
- Authentic Memoirs of George Morland (1806): This book included many pictures by the artist Morland.
- The Modern Geographer (1807).
- Langhorne's Fables of Flora . . . with a Life of the Author (1812).
- Letters of the Princess of Wales (1813): This book was about Princess Caroline of Brunswick.
He also wrote a life story of Samuel Johnson and edited his poems for a book called The Laurel (1808). He also created an index for the British Critic magazine. Some people believe he also wrote Paris as it was, and as it is (1803).
