Francis Lathom
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Francis Lathom (14 July 1774 – 19 May 1832) was a British gothic novelist and playwright.
Biography
Francis Lathom was born on 14 July 1774, in
Lathom was a precocious writer, beginning to write plays before he had turned eighteen. His first play, All in a Bustle, was produced on the Norwich stage at the Theatre Royal Norwich in 1795; he would go on to write six other plays, including The Dash of the Day (1800), which went into three Norwich editions as well as a reprint published in Dublin.
Lathom's first novel, The Castle of Ollada (1795) was published in two volumes, anonymously, by William Lane's
His next novel,
But Lathom was not only a Gothic novelist: about half his works are works of contemporary satire or attempts at fiction in the mode of
Lathom can be cited for two important achievements as a novelist. First, he was one of the first writers of
Little is known of Lathom's personal life. In 1797 he married Diana Ganning, daughter of a wealthy Norfolk lawyer, and the pair had four children, three of which survived, a baby boy dying in infancy. However, despite Lathom's burgeoning literary career and his growing family, some unknown cause led him to leave Norwich in 1810 and end his literary career. Summers has speculated this is related to Lathom's homosexuality, but there is no evidence one way or the other. He did separate from his wife shortly after this however and was given two thousand pounds a year in his father's will on condition that he break all ties with his children. His wife was awarded sole guardianship over the children in 1815 and the children were later renamed with their mother's maiden name. Lathom appears to have travelled extensively, visiting New York and Philadelphia and attempting to publish two novels in 1820. He also travelled in France and Italy, eventually settling in rural Scotland with the Rennie family, where he died in Aberdeenshire in 1832. He was buried under the name of 'Mr James Francis' in a plot in Fyvie churchyard belonging to the Rennie family.
Bibliography
- The Castle of Ollada (1795)
- All in a Bustle: a Comedy in Five Acts (1795)
- The Midnight Bell (1798)
- Men and Manners: a Novel (1799)
- Mystery: a Novel (1800)
- Holiday time; or, The School Boy's Frolic (1800)
- Curiosity: a Comedy in Three Acts (1800)
- The Dash of the Day: a Comedy in Five Acts (1800)
- Astonishment!!! A Romance of a Century Ago (1802)
- Very Strange, But Very True! (1803)
- The Impenetrable Secret, Find it Out! (1805)
- The Mysterious Freebooter; or, The Days of Queen Bess (1806)
- The Fatal Vow; or, St. Michael's Monastery (1807)
- Human Beings: a Novel (1807)
- The Unknown; or, The Northern Gallery (1808)
- The Romance of the Hebrides; or, Wonders Never Cease! (1809)
- London; or, Truth Without Treason (1809)
- Italian Mysteries; or, More Secrets Than One (1820)
- The One-Pound Note and Other Tales (1820)
- Puzzled and Pleased; or, The Two Old Soldiers; and other tales (1822)
- Live and Learn; or, The First John Brown, his Friends, Enemies and Acquaintances, in Town and Country: a novel. (1823)
- The Polish Bandit; or, Who is my Bride? (1824)
- Young John Bull; or, Born Abroad and Bred at Home (1828)
- Fashionable Mysteries; or, The Rival Duchesses; and other tales (1829)
- Mystic Events; or, The Vision of the Tapestry: A Romantic Legend of the Days of Anne Boleyn (1830)
References
- Taylor, Clare L. (2004). "Lathom, Francis (1777–1832)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16098. Retrieved 30 October 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Francis Lathom page at The Literary Gothic
Potter, Franz J., The History of Gothic Publishing, 1800-1835. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
- David Punter, ed., The Midnight Bell. Valancourt Books, 2007
See also
External links
- Book description and excerpt from The Castle of Ollada (1795) at Valancourt Books
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .