Theodore Hook
Theodore Hook was a prominent British satirist and author during the Regency period in the early 19th century. Born in London in 1788, he had a brief educational stint at Oxford and later became the accountant general for Mauritius, a position that led to significant financial troubles and imprisonment. Despite these setbacks, Hook found success in the literary world, notably as editor of the satirical magazine John Bull, where he used his sharp wit to critique political figures of the time. He also contributed to various literary projects, including successful farces and novellas, which reflected his talent for character-driven storytelling.
Hook's works often drew inspiration from real-life individuals, and he produced notable pieces like "Martha the Gypsy" and "Gilbert Gurney," showcasing his improvisational skills and keen social observations. His health declined in the 1830s, but he continued to write until his death in 1841. His legacy includes influencing contemporary authors, with characters inspired by him appearing in notable Victorian novels. Hook's life and writings exemplify the intersection of satire and personal experience in 19th-century literature.
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Theodore Hook
Author
- Born: September 22, 1788
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: August 24, 1841
Biography
Theodore Edward Hook was one of the leading British satirists during the Regency period of the first half of the nineteenth century. He was born in London in 1788 to Elizabeth Jane Madden and James Hook, a composer of light operas. He was educated at private schools and briefly at Harrow School, a prominent boarding school of the time. He then became an undergraduate at Oxford, but only spent two terms there. Through his own and his father’s contacts with the Prince of Wales, he achieved the appointment of accountant general to the colony of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean in 1813. After four years there, $62,000 had gone missing. Although no criminal charges were proved against him, his property was confiscated and he was imprisoned from 1823 to 1825. The debts incurred by this venture stayed with him the rest of his life. At his death, the Crown seized his remaining assets.
He secured the position of editor of the satirical magazine John Bull, founded in late 1820 to counter the Whig party’s desire to increase German influence through Queen Caroline. Hook effectively skewered the Whigs with his wit, scurrility, and skills as a lampooner. Other literary projects, however, lost money, and the energy he devoted to John Bull diminished, so that it, too, ceased to be profitable. In 1836, he moved on to become editor of the New Monthly Magazine. He wrote prolifically in the 1830’s, but his health began to fail, and it is possible the last few things he wrote were coauthored. He died at Fulham, just outside London, in 1841. His mistress, Mary Anne Doughty, survived him, as did his six children by her. A public subscription made sure they were not left destitute.
Hook had begun his writing career by penning lyrics for his father’s plays. At sixteen, he wrote the libretto of The Soldier’s Return, a comic opera, which earned him fifty pounds. He wrote the melodrama Tekeli: Or, The Siege of Montgatz, which became very popular despite being satirized by Lord Byron. After a gap, he returned to writing farces: The Trial by Jury and Darkness Visible were written in 1811, and in 1819, Exchange No Robbery, under the name of Richard Jones. By then to have written under his own name would have meant the confiscation of any profits.
He became involved in political satire about this time, in the magazine The Arcadians and in the prose satire Tentamen, an attack on both the Queen and the Lord Mayor of London. Sir Walter Scott liked it, which helped him to his post on John Bull. From 1826 to 1829, he wrote nine novellas, collected under the title Sayings and Doings, a money-earning enterprise to help rectify his finances. In fact, he received some three thousand pounds, a great amount in those days. The best known were Martha the Gypsy, Passion and Principle, and Cousin William. Maxwell (1830) is probably his most carefully written novel, based on one of his close friends. In fact, Hook only wrote characters based on real people. This is most clearly seen in Gilbert Gurney (1836) and Gurney Married (1838), which are thinly disguised portraits of real people and real anecdotes.
His last novel was titled Births, Marriages, and Deaths (1839), on the theme of jealousy. He also wrote a biography of Sir David Baird in 1832 and memoirs of Michael Kelly. Hook had begun a further biography, of Charles Matthews, at the time of his death. Such was his influence and personality that he had characters modeled after him in several early Victorian novels, for example Lucian Grey in Benjamin Disraeli’s Coningsby and Mr.Wagg in William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. His writing is consistently marked by sharp wit and his life by his skill as a brilliant improviser.