Thomas Wade (writer)

For the linguist of the same name, see Thomas Francis Wade.

Thomas Wade (1805 – 19 September 1875) was an English poet and dramatist.

Life

Wade, known as Wade Lavender in early life, was born at Woodbridge, Suffolk. He early went to London, where he began to publish verse influenced by Byron, Keats and especially Shelley. He wrote some plays that were produced on the London stage with theytfyvghcfbtf benefit of the acting of Charles and Fanny Kemble.

Wade contributed verse to magazines, and for some years he was editor as well as part-proprietor of Bell's Weekly Messenger. When it proved financially unsuccessful, he retired to Jersey, where he edited the British Press, continuing to publish poetry until 1871. He died in Jersey on 19 September 1875. His wife was Lucy Eager, a musician.

Works

The most notable of Wade's publications were:

• Tasso and the Sisters (1825), a volume of poems.
• Woman's Love (1828), a play produced at Covent Garden
• The Phrenologists, a farce produced at Covent Garden in 1830
• The Jew of Arragon, a play that was "howled from the stage" at Covent Garden in 1830 owing to its sympathy with the Jew
• Mundi et cordis carmina (1835), a volume of poems, many of which had previously appeared in the Monthly Repository, The Contention of Death and Love, Helena and The Shadow Seeker—these three being published in the form of pamphlets in 1837
• Prothanasia and other Poems (1839).

Wade also wrote a drama entitled King Henry II, and a translation of Dante's Inferno in the metre of the original, both unpublished; and a series of sonnets inspired by his wife, some published.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wade, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Alfred H. Mills, The Poets and Poetry of the Century, vol. iii. (10 vols, London, 1891–1897)
• Literary Anecdotes of the 19th Century, edited by Sir W Robertson Nicoll and TJ Wise (2 vols., London, 1895–1896), containing a number of Wade's sonnets, a specimen of his Dante translation and a reprint of two of his verse pamphlets
• Garnett, Richard (1899). "Wade, Thomas (1805-1875)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• van de Ven, Hans J. "Wade, Sir Thomas Francis (1818–1895)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28382. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)