Richard Alfred Davenport, born at Lambeth, began writing sonnets early in life. He acquired some reputation as editor of the Poetical Register, but seems to have made his living by writing biographers for the popular press. In addition to writing the lives for the Chiswick edition of the British Poets (1822), Davenport wrote biographies and histories for the Family Library and other commercial ventures. He spent his later years addicted to opium and living in seclusion. Some of his letters are reprinted in Richard Polwhele's Traditions and Recollections (1826) signed "D."
TEXT RECORDS:
1796Sonnet, written near an old Mansion at Midnight.
1797Ode to Amicus.
1797Sonnet. Farewell to the Country.
1797Sonnet. To Two Friends.
1800Sonnet to Ianthe.
1800[Stanzas inserted in The Pleasures of Solitude.]
1801Sonnet. The Timid Lover.
1802Song, from Florian.
1822The British Poets: Life of Edmund Spenser.
PUBLICATIONS:
The British poets [lives by Davenport]. 100 vols, 1822.
Works of William Robertson [ed. Davenport]. 1824.
The common-place book of epigrams [ed. Davenport]. 1825.
New elegant extracts. 1827.
A dictionary of biography. 1831.
The history of Greece [Mitford, continued by Davenport]. 1835.
The life of Ali Pasha. 1837.
Sketches of imposture, deception, and credulity. 1837.
A history of the Bastille. 1838.
Narratives of peril and suffering. 2 vols, 1840.
Lives of individuals who raised themselves from poverty to eminence or fortune. 1841.
A general dictionary of painters [Pilkington, revised by Davenport]. 1852.
PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:
English
education not known
editor
poet
historian
Annual Register
Poetical Register
Pocket Magazine
Lady's Pocket Magazine
Dr. Robert Anderson
Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges
Peter L. Courtier
Mary Russell Mitford
Thomas Park
Rev. Richard Polwhele
REFERENCE:
DNB; not NCBEL.
Poetical Register for 1801 (1802), 1802 (1803), 1803 (1804), 1804 (1805), 1805 (1807), 1806-07 (1811) 1808-09 (1812); Peter L. Courtier, ed., Lyre of Love (1806); John Britton, in Autobiography (1850); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine NS 37 (May 1852) 525; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); correspondence in A. G. L'Estrange, Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford (1882); Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921).
COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Richard Alfred Davenport:
BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Richard Alfred Davenport:
1. | 1806 Peter L. Courtier, in Lyre of Love (1806) 2:103. |
2. | 1852 Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine (May 1852) 525. |
3. | 1892 Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921) 1:821-22. |
AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)
AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)