Draft:David Coulton
David Trevena COULTON (3 Oct 1810—8 May 1857)
3 Oct 1810 - Born in Devizes, Wiltshire. Fourth and last surviving child of bookseller & author[x] James Trevena Coulton & Sophia Pain (daughter of a tripe dealer[1]) who were married 1799 at St Martin Outwich, London.
(4 Jul 1820 - Future wife baptised in Sidlesham, Sussex)
- "Owing to delicate health he was educated under a private tutor[x]"
May 1823 - At the age of 12, his father died[2]
- "At an early age he began to contribute both poetry and prose to the periodicals"
1839 - "Founded the Britannia newspaper, the aim of which was to extend and popularise the principles of conservatism as embodied in the institutions of the realm"
Post Office register 1841 - 12 New Inn, Strand, London
As a journalist, while a close reasoner, he possessed considerable skill in the popular exposition of complex questions.[x]
[Sarah:]
( 1846 - Mass christening of Charles BONIFACE's children in Waterford:
- Other BONIFACES present = William, Rhoda, Sarah & Jane)
1847 - "Withdrew from active journalism"
18 Apr 1848 - Mother dies 72 years old of Influenza, Bronchitis & Pneumonia - 1 Claremont Place, Lambeth
22 Apr 1850 - Licensed to marry by the Vicar General - St Bride, London
23 Apr 1850 - Married Sarah BONIFACE in St Bride's church, Fleet Street
Batchelor & spinster. Both 21 years and upwards
- He of St Bride Fleet St, she of Siddlesham
Witnesses: Henry SMITH & Sarah GOOD
1850 - "Sold the Britannia. Settled at Goudhurst, Kent, where he took to farming, occasionally contributing to the influential periodical Quarterly Review[3]
16 Oct 1850 - "Trevvy" born in Goudhurst.
1851 census - "Green Trees", Goudhurst, Kent - Critical Writer, Aujiying 12 of land
21 Nov 1852 - Son "Trevvy" dies in Bear St, Soho - Gentleman
He published an Inquiry into the Authorship of the Letters of Junius [QR: Dec. 1851, art. iv], proposing the author as the peer and Whig MP Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton (1744-79). The 69 popular Letters of Junius, published from 1769-72 in London in Woodfall's "Public Advertiser" powerfully promoted civil liberties and denouncing the government. of Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
1853 - Novel "Fortune, a story of London Life."
27 Apr 1954 - Philip born in - Goudhurst - Gentleman
The following year David's acclaimed novel Fortune was published, and the following year his son Philip Beaumont Grunieson (27 Apr 1854-18 Feb 1939) was born. That year David moved into 22 Park Prospect, Great Queen Street, Westminster to be able to entertain adequately statesmen and leading literary figures. DISRAELI, DICKENS, THACKERAY and Bulwer LYTTON are mentioned. His daughter Irene writes that he spent a considerable sum on the purchase of the house and furnishing it. His sister Sophia must have lived there too.
22 Dec 1855 - will of John Gillyat(t) BOOTH died naming DTC as an executor in the will.
29 May 1956 - Daughter "Rene" born at 2 Park Prospect, Westminster.
Overwork and poor health caused his early death on the 8th of May 1857 at Brighton. He had gone to Macclesfield in cold weather three weeks earlier to collect the four orphan children of his brother Edwin, and he had developed bronchitis. He was buried in the family vault at Norwood.
8 May 1857 - Died aged 47 of Bronchitis - 7 Royal Crescent, Brighton - Editor of the Press
The Dictionary of National Biography 1887 states:
In 1847 he withdrew from active journalism, and having in 1850 sold the ‘Britannia’ he settled at Goudhurst, Kent, where he took to farming, occasionally contributing to the 'Quarterly Review'. He published ’An Inquiry into the Authorship of the Letters of Junius', and in 1853 a novel entitled 'Fortune, a story of London Life’.
big stink
SEVEN YEARS OF MARRIAGE:
On the 22nd of April 1850, two years after his mother had died, and at the age of 40, David was licensed by the Vicar General to marry the daughter of a Sussex bricklayer Sarah BONIFACE. They married the next day. Throughout her married life it seems Sarah tried very hard to hide her humble family background from her husband's family. She consistently declared her age to be four years less than her actual age. On her marriage certificate she declared her father to be builder and farmer Benjamin instead of journeyman-bricklayer William, and at her death her father was declared to be William-Charles. The signature on their marriage certificate appears competent. She was known to be close to her brothers and sisters, as she attended the mass christening of her brother Charles' children in Waterford, Ireland together with her sister Jane and brother William and his wife Rhoda in 1846.
David and Sarah's first son James Trevena "Trevy" (16 Oct 1850-21 Nov 1852) was born at Goudhurst, five months and 24 days after their marriage. The event was recorded in the Maidstone and South Eastern Gazette. David's daughter Irene wrote a letter:
“My father was a clever engineer. He built a small railway drawn by hydraulic power; he used to put Trevy in it and it ascended and descended in the easiest way; it appears Disraeli and other great statesmen were delighted with it."
Unfortunately Trevy died when only two in Soho and is buried in the family" vault at Norwood. The informant on Trevy's death certificate was Sarah NASH, presumably the same Sarah "Annie" NASH (born 1812) who moved with the family to Bourbourg.
1854
29 Aug 1854-8 May 1857 - Editor of weekly "The Press" (weekly circulation of 3,500) (2, Park Prospect, Great Queen St, Westminster, London). The Press was founded by Disraeli and ran from 7 May 1853 until sold in 1858. Far from being a strictly Conservative Party organ, The Press was rather, to use Disraeli’s words, ‘of a very progressive and enlightened design’. The contributors included Disraeli’s old friends George SMYTHE and Bulwer LYTTON, and Disraeli himself wrote many of the first leading articles, although he was in pains to continue his writing role in secret.[4]
In the summer of 1853 appeared the Press newspaper, a weekly journal containing the usual number of leading articles and reviews of books, but combined with squibs, poetry, and humorous essays, after the manner of the Anti-Jacobin. The first editor is believed to have been Mr. Francis. He, however, was in a very short time succeeded by Mr. Samuel Lucas, and he in turn by David Trevena Coulton [qv.], who conducted the paper till his death in 1857, and in whom Disraeli reposed the greatest confidence. The first leading article in the first number was written by Disraeli himself, and the fifteenth earl of Derby, then Lord Stanley, was for a time a regular contributor. For their verses, dialogues, and comic articles in general, the management relied chiefly on Shirley Brooks [qv.]. But Disraeli himself continued to be the inspiring spirit of the paper down to 1858. He kept it constantly supplied with the best political information; and on Thursday afternoons he might often be seen coming out of Mr. Coulton's house in Little Queen Anne Street with the stealthy step and furtive glance of one who is on secret service. But governments are not to be written down any more than individuals, except by themselves; and what neither the logic nor the satire of the Press could perhaps have done for Lord Aberdeen, was done for him effectually by his good friend the emperor of Russia.[5][6]
"On 21 August Sammuel LUCAS had reported his dismissal of George Henry FRANCIS (1817?-66) the Press accountant to take effect on 27 August. For ‘temporary exigencies,’ he had hired Coulton from 29 August with a view to permanent employment. On 26 August ‘a peaceful solution’ with Francis was reported, while Coulton would take over from Lucas. after a week's supervision. Disraeli approval left Lucas free to take a holiday from 13 September leaving Coulton in charge. This arrangement was confirmed in Lucas's letter of 12 September responding to Disraeli's ‘ltind letter of yesterday' (not found). ‘Francis', on the basis of a 28 May letter to Lucas about printer problems signed ‘G.H. Francis’, was George Henry Francis , who had written on Disraeli for Fraser's Magazine in 1847 and 1852 (expanded into ... A Critical Biography in 1852 - see Stewart Writing: 122 (#749)); presumably his is the name that has been left out in the catalogue's transcription. H B/Vl/177, 181b, 184, 187a, 188, 190, 191; Wellesly Index II 395., 415 (items 2280, 2289, 2933). Coulton's 1853 novel Fortune: A Romance of Life would be reviewed in the Press on 8 October (545-6).[7]
Yielding to solicitations of friends, he undertook in 1854 to edit the 'Press’, devoting' himself” to his duties with remarkable vigour and energy. The strain of overwork was relieved by the recreation of mechanics in which he acquired considerable proficiency, and he invented a plan for an atmospheric railway. He died of bronchitis at Brighton 8 May 1857.”
The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield" by Moneypenny and Buckle Vol III 1914 Edition John Murray, records:
“… yielded reluctantly to the importunities of Disraeli and others ... threw himself into the work with great vigour and energy ... Disraeli conceived and retained a very high opinion of him. Several years after his death he wrote of him to Rose: ‘Coulton was a powerful political writer, a true man of letters and of signal integrity ... always animated by a high sense of duty. He died in harness, writing the best articles in the Press newspaper, which, had he lived, would I think have been established as a powerful organ’."
The report continues that COULTON took the burden of writing the leading articles off DISRAELI's shoulders. He used to go to the House of Commons to talk to DISRAELI on Friday nights before writing these.
Up to February 1856 these communications were constant, and in its best days the paper seems to have had a circulation of up to 3,500, quite a considerable figure for a weekly journal at that time.
A letter exists from Lord Henry LENNOX 8 February 1857 on House of Commons paper addressed to the Editor of the Press:
“My Dear Coulton, ... I should ask permission, to express to you the success achieved by your Prussian article. It was quite admirable. The Austrian ambassador called it, “another of those grave and statesmanlike articles for which cette feuille is now so celebrated” ... Our friend was delighted with the number. Hoping your cold is better. Believe me yours very truly.”
POST-DEATH:
FAMILY AFTER DEATH:
5 Jun 1857 - Administration - £800 - Gentleman
Late of Park Prospect, Great Queen Street, Westminster
Wife Sarah renounced the letters of administration of the goods of her ex-husband and the guardianship of her children
census 1861 - 9 Green Yard West Side, Waltham Holy Cross, MDX - Annuitant
1862 - Moved to Bourbourg, Nord, France
14 Sep 1873 - Wife died aged 49 in Rue des Gravelines, Bourbourg, France
3 Sep 1910 - Son Philip married describing his father as "Of independent means".
The administration of his will reads in shortened form:
“on the fifth day June 1857 Admon of the Good Chattels and credits of David Trevena Coulton of Park Prospect Westminster Gentleman deceased was granted to Sophia Coulton Spinster the lawful Aunt and Guardian lawfully assigned to Philip Beaumont Gruneisen Coulton and Irene Sophia Coulton Infants ... to administer ... until one of them shall obtain the age of twenty one years. Sarah Coulton widow ... the natural and lawful mother and next of kin of the said Infants having first renounced the letters of Admon ... and Guardianship of the said Infants. £800.”
This left David's sister, Sophia, at time age of 49 with, six young orphans to bring up. The fact that Sophie was 16 years older than Sarah could be a clue why David's wife Sarah did not take on the burden. Sarah has been described as “a homely admirable wife” and “she was sterner than Sophy and if she had lived perhaps Philip her son would have behaved better.” In her book “Our Farm of Four Acres”, Sophie referred to Sarah as her sister "H", and in her will Sophie states: “... I desire that if I die in Bourbourg aforesaid I may be buried in the Protestant Cemetary of Dunkirk by the side of Mrs Coulton …”
Sarah died in Bourbourg on the 14th of September 1873, and was buried in the protestant graveyard in Dunkerque.
- ^ "Will of Edwin PAIN".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. F. Jefferies. 1823.
- ^ "Quarterly Review". Wikipedia. 2016-11-06.
- ^ Braun, Thomas. "Disraeli the Novelist".
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Lundy, Darryl. Wellington, New Zealand http://www.thepeerage.com/e68.htm.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Kebbel, Thomas Edward. "D'Israeli Benjamin". Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. Volume 15.
{{cite journal}}:|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ Wiebe, M G (1997). Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1852-1856, volume 6. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press Incorporated. p. 254. ISBN 0-8020-4137-X.