View source for Thomas Day (writer)

{{short description|English author, lawyer and abolitionist (1748–1789)}}
{{for|other persons named Thomas Day|Thomas Day (disambiguation)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=February 2019}}
{{use British English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Thomas Day
| image            = Thomas Day by Joseph Wright.jpg
| caption          = 1770 portrait of Day by [[Joseph Wright of Derby]]
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1748|6|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1789|9|28|1748|6|22|df=y}}
| death_place      = Barehill, [[Berkshire]]
| occupation       = Author, lawyer
| genre            = Children's literature, politics, satire
| notableworks     = ''[[The History of Sandford and Merton]]''
|spouse = [[Esther Milnes Day|Esther Milnes]]
}}

'''Thomas Day''' (22 June 1748 – 28 September 1789) was an English author, lawyer and abolitionist. He was well known for the book ''[[The History of Sandford and Merton]]'' (1783–1789) which emphasized [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseauvian]] educational ideals, for his writings against slavery, for campaigning both for and against [[American Revolution|American independence]], and for his project applying his educational ideals to young girls with the aim of raising a wife for himself.

==Early life==
Day was born on 22 June 1748 in London, the only child of Thomas and Jane Day. His father died when he was about a year old, but left him wealthy. He first attended a school in [[Stoke Newington]], [[Middlesex]], where the family lived at what is now 109-111 Church Street, but [[History of smallpox#Eurasian epidemics|after a bout]] of [[smallpox]] which left his face permanently scarred he was moved to [[Charterhouse School]]. He subsequently attended [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], where he became a master debater and developed a close friendship with William Jones; he did not graduate and left the college in 1767.

==Life==
Day moved back to his family estate at Barehill, [[Berkshire]], in 1766.{{Sfn|Moore,|1952|p=}} There he met the progressive educator and inventor [[Richard Lovell Edgeworth]], from whom he became almost inseparable. Together they resolved to educate Edgeworth's son, Dick, in the style of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]'s ''[[Emile: Or, On Education|Emile]]''. Edgeworth and the project converted Day to Rousseauism. He declared in 1769 that the two books he would save, were all the world's books to be destroyed, would be the Bible and ''Emile''. Day, Edgeworth and his son would later visit Rousseau in France. Because of his connection with Edgeworth, Day joined the [[Lunar Society]] in [[Lichfield]], despite describing himself as a philosopher rather than a scientist, and formed friendships with [[Erasmus Darwin]] and [[Anna Seward]].

===Sabrina Sidney===
{{Main article|Sabrina Sidney}}
After this education project, Day undertook a second: he tried [[child grooming|to train]] a [[wife]]. According to Anna Seward (who nevertheless observed that "there was no finding such a creature ready made"), his demands were modest: "He resolved, if possible, that his wife should have a taste for literature and science, for moral and patriotic philosophy. So might she be his companion in that retirement, to which he had destined himself; and assist him forming the minds of his children to stubborn virtue and high exertion. He resolved also, that she should be simple as a mountain girl, in her dress, her diet and her manners, fearless and intrepid as the Spartan wives and Roman heroines."{{Sfn|Uglow, October 5,|2002}}

Using Edgeworth's name, Day applied to the [[Foundling Hospital]] to take first one and then another girl, initially aged 12 and 11; he told the Hospital that they were to be apprenticed as maids in Edgeworth's household, which Edgeworth did not know of until several months later. He renamed them from Ann Kingston and Dorcas Car to [[Sabrina Sidney]] and Lucretia, respectively. What last name he chose for 'Lucretia' is not known. He made a donation of fifty pounds to the Foundling Hospital and was appointed a member of the governing board.{{Sfn|Moore,|1952|p=}}

After living in London with Sabrina Sidney for some time, Day took both girls to France in November 1769. His motives are unclear, as Day was a committed Francophobe, but leaving the country put him out of the reach of British law and the lawyers of the Foundling Hospital, who had been known to sue apprentice-masters who mistreated their apprentices. It also let him isolate the girls; he refused to hire English-speaking staff and would not let anyone teach the girls French. At one time he challenged a French military officer to a duel for speaking to one of the girls.{{Sfn|Moore,|1952|p=}}

In the spring of 1770, Day decided that Lucretia, then aged 12, could not satisfy him intellectually as a wife, and returned to England, placing her in the home of a milliner's family in [[Ludgate Hill]] with a payment of £400. With Sabrina, he leased Stowe House in Lichfield, near Edgeworth and the Lunar Society. At this point he still had not informed Sabrina, then aged 13, of his designs, and told her she was apprenticed to him as a servant. According to Rousseau, who had described how children should be taught not to fear pain or physical hardship, Day embarked on a programme of 'lessons,' including dripping hot candle-wax onto Sabrina's arms and forcing her to wade into cold water up to her neck. He also shot at her skirts with a pistol; accounts are divided on whether it was loaded. By 1771, Day had decided to abandon his 'experiment,' and sent Sabrina to stay at a boarding school for the rest of her childhood.{{Sfn|Moore,|1952|p=}}

Still living in Lichfield, he proposed marriage to [[Honora Sneyd]], who would later marry his friend Edgeworth, and then proposed the same to her sister Elizabeth, who was briefly engaged to him but broke it off.{{Sfn|Maginn, November|1832|p=556}}{{Sfn|Moore,|1952|p=}}

He met [[Esther Milnes Day|Esther Milnes]] (1753–1792), an heiress from [[Chesterfield, Derbyshire|Chesterfield]], and they were married on 7 August 1778. The couple subsequently moved to a small estate at [[Stapleford Abbotts]], near Abridge in [[Essex]]. They lived a very [[ascetic]] lifestyle and Esther was not allowed to contact her family. In 1780, the couple moved to Anningsley in [[Surrey]], when Day bought a new estate there. It was a philanthropic project for both husband and wife and they laboured to improve the conditions of the working classes around them.

==Publications and political works==
In 1773, Day published his first work—''[[The Dying Negro]]''—a poem he had written with [[John Bicknell]]. It tells the story of a runaway slave, and sold well.

The contradiction between the claim that "all men are created equal" and the existence of American [[slavery]] attracted comment from some quarters when the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] was first published; Congress, having made a few changes in wording, deleted nearly a fourth of the draft before publication, most notably removing a passage critical of the [[History of slavery|slave trade]], as there were members of Congress who owned black slaves.{{Sfn|Armitage|2007|pp=76–77}} Day was among those who noted the discrepancy, writing in 1776:

{{Cquote |quote=''If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.''{{Sfn|Day,|1784|p=33}}{{Sfn|Stuart, June|1784|p=470}} }}

Day decided to study the law and in 1776 was admitted to [[Lincoln's Inn]]; he rarely practised.

Day argued for the rights of the American colonists in his poem "The Devoted Legions" (1776) and in 1780 he argued in Parliament for an early peace with the revolutionaries as well as parliamentary reform. His speeches were also published as pamphlets.

It was as a writer for children that Day made his reputation. ''The History of Little Jack'' (1787) was extremely popular, but it could not match the sales of ''The History of Sandford and Merton'' (1783, 1786, 1789) which was a bestseller for over a hundred years. Embracing Rousseau's dictates in many ways, it narrates the story of the rich, noble but spoiled Tommy Merton and his poor but virtuous friend Harry Sandford. Through trials and stories, Harry and the boys' tutor teach Tommy the importance of labor and the evils of the idle rich.

==Death==
Day believed that the traditional practice of breaking-in horses was harsh and unnecessary, and that if an animal was treated well, the need for severity could be avoided.<ref>{{cite book|title=Enlightenment:Britain and the Creation of the Modern World|year=2000|author=Porter, Roy|page=350}}</ref> He attempted to put his theory to the test with a colt on 28 September 1789 at Barehill, [[Berkshire]], but was thrown from the horse, and died almost instantly. He was buried at St Mary's Church, [[Wargrave]], Berkshire.{{Sfn|Rowland,|2004|pp=602–603}}

==See also==
* [[List of abolitionist forerunners]]

==Bibliography==
===Notes===
{{reflist|25em}}

===References===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
<!--A-->
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Armitage,|2007|pp=76–77}} |date=2007 |last1=Armitage |first1=David (born 1965) |author1-link=David Armitage (historian) |title=The Declaration of Independence: A Global History |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=76–77 }} {{doi|10.2307/j.ctv1ks0hkk.1}}; {{LCCN|2006050102}}; {{ISBN|978-0-6740-2282-9}} (2007); {{ISBN|978-0-6740-2027-6}} (e-book; 2008); {{ISBN|978-0-6740-3032-9}} (2008); {{OCLC|71173909|show=all}}
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-674-02282-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/declarationofind00armi/page/76 |url-access=registration |type=[[Marin County Free Library]] |last1=Armitage |first1=David |publisher=Harvard University Press }} ({{small|{{Smallcaps|Preview Only → Borrow Unavailable}}}} → {{small|see {{Smallcaps|''[[Hachette v. Internet Archive]]''}}}})</li>
<li>{{cite book |date=2007 |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|RHlYssMw6oUC|pg=PP7|dq=}} |type=limited preview }}</li>
<li>{{cite book |date=2007 |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|cTb6rQEACAAJ|pg=PA76|dq=}} |type=limited preview }}</li>
<li>{{cite book |date=2007 |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|X81ZtQEACAAJ|pg=PA76|dq=}} |type=limited preview }}</li>
<li>{{cite book |date=2007 |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|X2QCAa27Zy4C|pg=PA76|dq=}} |type=limited preview }}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via JSTOR j.ctv1ks0hkk.1'' |jstor=j.ctv1ks0hkk |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1ks0hkk |url-access=subscription |archive-date=2 August 2024 |access-date=2 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240802015048/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1ks0hkk |url-status=live }}</li></ol></ol>

<!--B-->
* {{cite book |last=Blackman |first=John |year=1862 |title=A Memoir of the Life and Writings of Thomas Day, Author of 'Sandford and Merton' |publisher=[[John Bedford Leno]] |location=London}} Retrieved February 5, 2019.
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via HathiTrust'' |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015063913753&seq=5 |type=[[University of Michigan]] }} {{free access}}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=1862 |publisher=John Bedford Leno, 56 , Drury Lane, W.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/amemoirlifeandw00blacgoog/page/n3/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater |type=[[University of Michigan]] }} {{free access}}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|9tw0AAAAMAAJ|pg=PA1}} |type=[[University of Michigan]] }} {{free access}}</li></ol></ol>
<!--C-->
* {{cite book |last=Chandler |first=Anne |editor-last=Sedgwick |editor-first=Eve Kosofsky |editor-link=Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick |date=24 November 1997 |title=Novel Gazing: Queer Readings in Fiction |url={{GBurl|CnCx_JNHqlgC |pg=PA1}} |publisher=Duke University Press |location=[[Durham, North Carolina]] |chapter=Defying 'Development': Thomas Day's Queer Curriculum in ''Sandford and Merton'' |chapter-url={{GBurl|CnCx_JNHqlgC |pg=PA201}} |pages=201–226 |isbn=0-8223-8247-4 }}
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|CnCx_JNHqlgC|pg=PA201}} |type=limited preview }}</li></ol></ol>

<!--D-->
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Day,|1784|p=33}} |last=Day |first=Thomas |year=1784 |orig-year=1831 |title=Fragment of an Original Letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, Written in the Year 1776, by Thomas Day, Esq |location=London |publisher=Printed for [[John Stockdale]] (London) & Printed by [[Francis Bailey (publisher)|Francis Bailey]] (Philadelphia) }} {{LCCN|07009405}}; {{OCLC|879432564|show=all}}.
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=1831 |url=https://archive.org/details/fragmentoforigin00dayt/page/10/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=%22affrighted+slaves%22 |type=[[Johns Hopkins University]]) (11 pages |publisher=Re-Printed by [[William Lloyd Garrison|Garrison]] and [[Isaac Knapp|Knapp]] (1831) |location=Boston |page=10 }} {{free access}}</li>
<li>{{cite book|date=1784|title=''Via Google Books''|url={{GBurl|c-ANAAAAQAAJ|pg=RA1-PA33|dq="if there be"}}|type=[[Oxford University]]|pages=1–40 [33]}} {{free access}}</li></ol></ol>

<!--G-->
* {{cite book |last=Gignilliat |first=George Warren, Jr., PhD (1894–1985) |year=1932 |title=The Author of Sandford and Merton: A Life of Thomas Day, Esq. |publisher=Columbia University Press }} Retrieved February 5, 2019. {{LCCN|32010868}}; {{ISBN|978-0-2319-3110-6}}; {{OCLC|720343|show=all}}.
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=1932 |url=https://archive.org/details/authorofsandford0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater |url-access=registration |type=[[University of California]] }}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|fXY4AAAAIAAJ}} |series=(search only) |type=[[San Francisco Public Library]] }}</li></ol></ol>

<!--J-->
* Jefferson, Cord, [https://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/177764747/a-british-intellectuals-mission-to-create-the-perfect-wife "A British Intellectual's Mission 'To Create The Perfect Wife'" (review)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171101071600/http://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/177764747/a-british-intellectuals-mission-to-create-the-perfect-wife? |date=1 November 2017 }}, [[NPR]], 30 April 2013.

<!--K-->
* {{cite book |last=Keir |first=James |author-link=James Keir |year=1791 |title=An Account of the Life and Writings of Thomas Day, Esq. |url=https://archive.org/details/anaccountlifean00keirgoog |publisher=John Stockdale |location=London, England }}

<!--M-->
* {{cite magazine |ref={{SfnRef|Maginn, November|1832|p=556}}|editor-last=Maginn |editor-first=James (1794–1842) |date=November 1832 |editor-link=William Maginn|title=Miss Edgeworth's Tales and Novels |url= |magazine=[[Fraser's Magazine|Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country]] |publisher=[[James Fraser (publisher)|James Fraser]] |location=London |volume=6 |issue=34 |pages=541–558 |hdl=2027/umn.31951000742903o?urlappend=%3Bseq=565 }}
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via HathiTrust'' |hdl=2027/umn.31951000742903o?urlappend=%3Bseq=565 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951000742903o?urlappend=%3Bseq=565 |type=[[University of Minnesota|Minnesota]] }} {{free access}}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|-aBR_BDOYLAC|pg=PA556|dq=elizabeth+sneyd}} |type=[[University of Colorado Boulder|UC Boulder]] }} {{free access}}</li></ol></ol>
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Moore,|1952|p=}} |last1=Moore |first1=Wendy (born 1952) |author-link=Wendy Moore |year=2013 |title=How to Create the Perfect Wife |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |location=New York}} Retrieved July 31, 2024. {{LCCN|2012048149}}; {{ISBN|978-0-4650-6573-8}} (e-book); {{ISBN|978-0-2978-6378-6}} (hard cover); {{ISBN|978-0-4650-6574-5}} (hard cover); {{OCLC|802293830|show=all}}.
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-465-06574-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/howtocreateperfe0000moor |url-access=registration |last1=Moore |first1=Wendy |publisher=Basic Books }} ({{small|{{Smallcaps|Borrow Unavailable}}}} → {{small|see {{Smallcaps|''[[Hachette v. Internet Archive]]''}}}})</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|KEc36eNHl7AC|pg=PT2}} |type=limited preview }}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|fcYWBQAAQBAJ|pg=PR3}} |type=limited preview }}</li></ol></ol>

<!--R-->
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Rowland,|2004|pp=602–603}} |date=2004 |editor1-last=Rowland |editor1-first=Peter |chapter=Thomas Day |title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |others=In Association with the [[British Academy]]: from the Earliest Times to the Year 2000 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |volume=15: "Daly–Dewar" |pages=602–603}} Retrieved May 20 2007. {{cite ODNB |title=''10.1093/ref:odnb/7372'' |date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7372 |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7372 |url-access=registration |type=article |last1=Rowland |first1=Peter }}; {{ISBN|978-0-1986-1365-7}} (Vol. 15); {{ISBN|978-0-1986-1411-1}} (all 60 volumes); {{OCLC|4916045573}} (article).
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613652/page/602/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access=registration }}</li></ol></ol>
<!--S-->
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Scott,|1935|p=}} |last1=Scott |first1=Samuel Haslam (1875–1960) |author1-link=Samuel Haslam Scott |year=1935 |title=The Exemplary Mr. Day, 1748–1789 |url={{GBurl|5zY1AQAAIAAJ}} |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |via=Google Books (snippet view only) }} {{LCCN|35011027}}; {{LCCN|35006153}} {{OCLC|543701|show=all}}.
* {{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|Seymour, June 23,|2013|p=}} |last=Seymour |first=Miranda |author-link=Miranda Seymour |date=23 June 2013 |title=Do as I Say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/books/review/how-to-create-the-perfect-wife-by-wendy-moore.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times Book Review]] |page=18 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207020628/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/books/review/how-to-create-the-perfect-wife-by-wendy-moore.html |url-status=live }} {{ISSN|0028-7806}} (publication); {{ProQuest|1372739425}} (article).
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via'' New York Times Book Review ''blog'' |publisher=The New York Times |date=21 June 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/books/review/how-to-create-the-perfect-wife-by-wendy-moore.html |last1=Seymour |first1=Miranda |archive-date=7 February 2019 |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207020628/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/books/review/how-to-create-the-perfect-wife-by-wendy-moore.html |url-status=live }} {{free access}}</li></ol></ol>
* {{cite magazine |ref={{SfnRef|Stuart, June|1784|p=470}} |editor-last=Stuart |editor-first=Gilbert (1755–1828) |editor-link=Gilbert Stuart (writer) |date=June 1784 |title=Miscellaneous – Art. 17: ''Fragment of an Original Letter, on the Slavery of the Negroes;'' Written in the Year 1776, by Thomas Day, Esq. 1S. Stockdale. 1784 |magazine=[[English Review (18th century)|The English Review, Or, An Abstract of English and Foreign Literature]]  |type=review |volume=3 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |location=London |page=470}} {{LCCN|sf98094074}}; {{OCLC|7200101|show=all}}.
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Google Books'' |url={{GBurl|7DcJAAAAQAAJ|pg=PA470|dq="if there be"}} |type=[[Oxford University]] }} {{free access}}</li></ol></ol>

<!--U-->
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Uglow,|2002|p=}} |date=2002 |last1=Uglow |first1=Jenny |author1-link=Jenny Uglow |title=The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World |location=New York |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] }} Retrieved July 31, 2024. {{LCCN|2002072353}}; {{ISBN|978-0-3741-9440-6}}; {{OCLC|49959314|show=all}}.
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Internet Archive'' |date=2002 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-9654950-0-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780965495004/page/n3/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater |url-access=registration |type=[[San Leandro High School]] }}</li></ol></ol>
* {{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|Uglow, October 5,|2002}} |date=October 5, 2002 |last1=Uglow |first1=Jenny |author1-link=Jenny Uglow |title=Thomas Day's Dreams of Pedagogy – Educating Sabrina |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview24 |access-date=18 March 2015 |work=Guardian Review |page=35 }} Retrieved March 18, 2015. {{ISSN|0261-3077}} (print newspaper); {{ISSN|1756-3224}} (online newspaper); {{OCLC|877263919|show=all}} (book review supplement) & {{OCLC search link|1262733785}} (book review supplement).
<ol type="i" start="1">
<ol type="i" start="1">
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via'' Guardian Review ''blog'' |publisher=The Guardian |date=5 October 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview24 |last1=Uglow |first1=Jenny }} {{free access}}</li>
<li>{{cite book |title=''Via Newspapers.com'' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260688149/ |url-access=subscription |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=1 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124100517/https://www.newspapers.com/image/260688149/ |url-status=live }}</li></ol></ol>
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/day.htm Thomas Day from Brycchan Carey's listing of British abolitionists ]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=34479 | name=Thomas Day}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Thomas Day}}

{{18CBritChildrensLiterature}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Thomas}}
[[Category:1748 births]]
[[Category:1789 deaths]]
[[Category:English abolitionists]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:People from Lichfield]]
[[Category:18th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident in England]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]