Francis Hastings Doyle

"Poetry" — Doyle as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, November 1877

Sir Francis Hastings Charles Doyle, 2nd Baronet (21 August 1810 – 8 June 1888) was a British poet.[1]

Biography

Doyle was born at Nunappleton near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, to a family which produced several army officers, including his father, Major-General Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, 1st Baronet, created a baronet in 1828.[2][3][4] His mother was Diana Elizabeth Milner (died 1828), daughter of Sir William Milner, 3rd Baronet of Nunappleton. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1839.[5]

Doyle was educated at Eton College. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1828, graduating B.A. in 1832 with a degree in classics. He was a Fellow of All Souls College from 1835 to 1845.[6][7] Among his Oxford friends was William Gladstone, at whose marriage he was best man, but in later life their political opinions widely differed.[7] Studying law from 1832, he was called to the Bar in 1837 at the Inner Temple, and went the Northern Circuit.[6][8]

Later Doyle held fiscal appointments, becoming in 1846 receiver-general of Customs, a post he held to 1869. He moved in 1869 to commissioner of Customs, and held that position to 1883.[1]

Doyle was elected in 1867 Professor of Poetry at Oxford. He held the post to 1877.[1][8]

Works

Doyle was known as a poet mostly for ballads including The Red Thread of Honour (translated into Pashto), The Private of the Buffs, and The Loss of the Birkenhead.[3][1] He published:

  • Miscellaneous Verses (1834)[7]
  • Two Destinies (1844)[7]
  • Oedipus, King of Thebes (1849)[7]
  • The Return of the Guards: And Other Poems (1866)[4][7][9]
  • Lectures on Poetry: Delivered at Oxford (Second Series) (1877). Includes Installation Ode, and other poems.[4][10] In 1869 some of the first series lectures Doyle had delivered were published in book form. One was his appreciation of William Barnes.[7] An essay on John Henry Newman's The Dream of Gerontius, from the second series, was translated into French.[1]
  • Robin Hood's Bay: An Ode Addressed to the English People (1878), anonymous[4][11]
  • Reminiscences and Opinions of Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, 1813-1885 (1886)[7][12]

Family

In 1844, Doyle married Sidney Williams-Wynn (died 1867), daughter of the MP Charles Williams-Wynn. The couple had three sons and two daughters:[5]

English Wikisource has original works by or about:

References

  1. ^ abcdeBrayne, Charles. "Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings Charles, second baronet (1810–1888)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7998.(Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: Clarence Volume. London. 1905. p. 272.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ ab Cousin, John William (1910), "Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings", A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource
  4. ^ abcdReilly, Catherine (1 January 2000). Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860–1879. A&C Black. pp. 139–140. ISBN 9780720123180. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. ^ abcdefgBurke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (99th ed.). London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. and Shaw Publishing. 1949. p. 623.
  6. ^ abFoster, Joseph (1888–1891). "Doyle, (Sir) Francis Hastings (Bart.)" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: James Parker – via Wikisource.
  7. ^ abcdefghChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings Charles" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 462.
  8. ^ ab Foster, Joseph (1885). "Doyle, Francis Hastings Charles" . Men-at-the-Bar  (second ed.). London: Hazell, Watson, and Viney. p. 129.
  9. ^Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings (1866). The Return of the Guards: And Other Poems. London: Macmillan & Co.
  10. ^Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings, Bart. (1877). Lectures on Poetry: Delivered at Oxford (Second Series). London: Smith, Elder & Co.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^Robin Hood's Bay: An Ode Addressed to the English People. London: Spottiswoode & Co. 1878.
  12. ^Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings (1886). Reminiscences and Opinions of Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, 1813-1885. London: Longmans & Co.
  13. ^"The Late Captain Doyle". Bye-gones, Relating to Wales and the Border Counties. Oswestry: Caxton Press: 162–163. December 1882.
  14. ^Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886

Attribution

Wikisource reference This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings Charles". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 462.

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