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William Roscoe

Liverpool, 1753 - 1831, LIverpool

BiographyLC name authority rec. n50048425
LC Heading: Roscoe, William, 1753-1831

Biography:

Roscoe, William (1753–1831), historian and patron of the arts, was born on 8 March 1753 at the Old Bowling Green House, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, the only son of William Roscoe (bap. 1714, d. 1793), innkeeper, and his wife, Elizabeth (1719–1771), daughter of William Stevenson of Allerton.
Family and education
Roscoe's father had been butler at Allerton Hall, near Liverpool, before he became innkeeper at the Old Bowling Green. Soon after William's birth the family moved into a newly built and larger tavern with an extensive market garden also on Mount Pleasant. Roscoe inherited his father's tremendous energy and also a lifelong interest in agriculture, gardening, and botany. From his mother he inherited a love of books and poetry. His new home commanded a spectacular view of the rapidly growing city, docks, sailing ships, many of them slavers bound for west Africa, and in the far distance the Welsh mountains. This was his home and his attachment to Liverpool was so deep-rooted that he always felt ill at ease when away from his native city. His unwillingness to travel far was a limiting factor throughout his life.

On leaving school at the age of twelve Roscoe spent what he described as the happiest years of his life assisting his father in his agricultural concerns. His leisure hours were spent reading. At the age of fifteen he became articled to a young solicitor, John Eyes, who drank himself to death. The rest of his articles he served with Mr P. Ellames, who appreciated Roscoe's industry at work as well as his literary talents. Among his favourite authors were Shenstone and Goldsmith, though he became well acquainted with the works of Shakespeare and admired Addison's and Steele's Spectator. It was at this time that he met Francis Holden, a gifted young schoolmaster, who gave him lessons in French and Latin and, at a later stage, in Italian. Several others joined them in a study group which met early every morning before the day's work.

Roscoe acquired another circle of friends through his membership of the Unitarian chapel in Liverpool. The Revd Dr William Enfield, the minister from 1763 to 1770, was impressed by two of Roscoe's early writings, his poem ‘Mount Pleasant’ and a manuscript volume on Christian morality, and gave him every encouragement. When in 1770 Enfield became rector of the Warrington dissenters' academy, Roscoe attended open meetings at which visitors were made welcome and shared the spirit of companionship and rational enquiry which prevailed there. Enfield's encouragement and the association with the Warrington Academy had a powerful influence on Roscoe in his formative years. Enfield's son and Roscoe were both articled to the same solicitor in Liverpool.

In 1774 Roscoe was admitted an attorney of the king's bench. He entered into partnership with a firm which came to be known as Aspinall, Roscoe, and Lace. For twenty years he immersed himself totally in what he described as the laborious and distasteful profession of an attorney and at the same time pursued his literary interests. In 1797 he surprised family and friends by entering Gray's Inn with a view to becoming a barrister. One term of residence at Gray's Inn and in London was enough for Roscoe.

Three years after becoming an attorney Roscoe became engaged to Jane (1757–1824), daughter of William Griffies, a draper in Castle Street, Liverpool, and his wife, Anne Lace. On 22 February 1781 they were married at the chapel of St Anne in Liverpool. They enjoyed over forty years of happy married life and were proud of their large and united family. Of their seven sons one became a banker, one a merchant, two lawyers, one a doctor, and one an author. William Stanley Roscoe (1782–1843), poet, their eldest son, was close to his father in outlook and tastes. Educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, he became a partner in his father's bank but was also a student of Italian literature. He published a book of poems in 1834. He married Hannah Eliza Caldwell (d. 1853) on 10 September 1818 and their son William Caldwell Roscoe was also a poet and essayist. William Stanley Roscoe died in Liverpool on 31 October 1843. Thomas Roscoe (1791–1871), the fifth son of William and Jane Roscoe, translated many Italian works into English including the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini in 1821 and a History of Painting in Italy, a translation of the work by Lanzi. In 1841 he published Legends of Venice, a selection of stories by Italian authors, translated by himself and illustrated by J. R. Herbert. Henry Roscoe (1800–1836), their youngest son, a barrister, published a biography of his father in 1833 and was author of various legal works. Two of their three daughters, Mary Anne and Jane, were as prolific in their writings and varied in their interests as their parents. Both published volumes of poetry and Mary Anne, who married Thomas Jevons, edited collections of verses written by several members of the family, which were published as annuals in the 1830s [see Jevons, Mary Anne].
Historical works
As early as 1773 Roscoe and his friends founded a Society of Encouragement of the Arts, Painting and Design, which organized in Liverpool the first public exhibition of paintings held in any English town outside London. It included an item, no. 45, The Mother, a drawing of his own in Indian ink after a French engraving. In the early years of his married life Roscoe became increasingly interested in Italian literature and art. His interest was stimulated as the result of a chance meeting with Henry Fuseli, a Swiss-born artist, who after eight years spent in Rome studying Michelangelo, settled in England, eventually becoming professor of painting at the Royal Academy. Roscoe and Fuseli became close friends, Roscoe benefiting from Fuseli's knowledge of art and Fuseli relying on Roscoe's patronage. At the time of Fuseli's first visit to Liverpool, Roscoe wrote a poem entitled ‘The art of engraving’ which contained a reference to ‘the Great Lorenzo’ and his part in the revival of art in fifteenth-century Florence. Roscoe decided to write a biography of Lorenzo de' Medici, the first to appear in English. This task engaged his leisure hours for nearly ten years. The more he learned from his study of Lorenzo de' Medici, patron of the arts, the more he began to see himself cast in the role of a latter-day Lorenzo, doing for Liverpool what Lorenzo did for Florence. He was fortunate in securing the help of William Clarke, the son of a Liverpool banker and companion of his early studies, who on account of ill health had been advised to spend the winter of 1789 in Italy. Clarke was able to gather a large quantity of resource material from librarians in Florence and Rome to enable Roscoe to proceed with his task.

The publication of Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de' Medici in 1796 proved an immediate success and won him international fame as a historian and scholar. The biography gave great pleasure to many of his contemporaries, among them Horace Walpole, a correspondent of his, who wrote ‘Mr Roscoe is by far the best of our historians, both for beauty, style and deep reflexions’ (Roscoe, ‘Memoir of the author’, 29). Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo was a remarkable achievement for a self-educated historian who had never ventured abroad. He performed a useful service to his contemporaries and future generations by bringing together in one book such a wealth of information about his hero. Seven editions were published in his lifetime and six after his death.

Nine years later in 1805 Roscoe published his second major work, The Life of Pope Leo X, Son of Lorenzo de' Medici. He himself had never intended to publish such a work, but was persuaded to undertake the task by Horace Walpole and the earl of Bristol, who regarded it as an appropriate sequel to his first biography. The Life of Leo was not well received by critics. It aroused the anger of both Catholics and protestants. Despite this it ran to six editions. Again the Life of Leo, though it fell short of expectations, served a useful purpose as a mine of information and was widely read in Europe and America, having been translated into French, German, and Italian.

Soon after publication of the Life of Lorenzo Roscoe retired from his legal practice at the age of forty-three. Hartley Coleridge remarked, ‘business must have been indeed extensive and lucrative to enable him to escape from its trammels so soon with a competent fortune and an unspotted reputation’ (Coleridge, 3.34). From 1790 to 1793 Roscoe had lived at The Dingle, an idyllic retreat overlooking the Mersey, a romantic residence, which inspired him to write poetry. Three years after retirement he bought Allerton Hall, which supplied all his needs except that it became necessary to add a wing to accommodate his rapidly growing library and collection of paintings.
Politics, abolition of the slave trade, and bankruptcy
At this time Roscoe became increasingly involved in political activity and at the 1806 election was invited to stand for parliament as an independent candidate for Liverpool. His campaign proved successful and in an early speech calling for an honourable peace with France and parliamentary reform, he spoke in favour of the abolition of the slave trade. In his speech at the debate preceding the passing of the bill for the abolition of the slave trade, he concluded:
I have long resided in the town of Liverpool: for thirty years I have never ceased to condemn this inhuman traffic: and I consider it the greatest happiness of my life to lift up my voice on this occasion against it, with the friends of justice and humanity. (Sanderson, 223)
Soon after the inaugural meeting in London of the African Institute, which Roscoe helped to establish, Wilberforce, speaking of Roscoe, said, ‘Here is a man who by strength of character has risen above the deep-seated prejudices of his townspeople and eventually won their respect. His future is secure’ (ibid., 225). This last remark proved untrue. On his return to Liverpool after his triumph in parliament, Roscoe found himself at the centre of a riot orchestrated by local slave traders which hastened the end of his brief parliamentary career.

Soon after moving into Allerton Hall, Roscoe was approached by the family of his friend William Clarke, who had procured in Italy material for his Life of Lorenzo. He was asked to investigate the affairs of the Clarke family bank, which had run into difficulties. Roscoe felt obliged to help and proved so successful that against his better judgement he accepted the invitation to become a partner. Confidence was restored and for many years Roscoe enjoyed a career as a reluctant but successful banker. During this period he became an enthusiastic farmer, personally supervising the lands surrounding his home. He also became involved in an expensive experiment, the object of which was to reclaim a large tract of land on Chat Moss and Trafford Moss, between Liverpool and Manchester. This together with other business interests considerably drained his resources.

In 1816 the bank collapsed during the period of acute depression following the end of the Napoleonic wars. Roscoe faced bankruptcy with remarkable equanimity and courage. Allerton Hall and the greater part of the property of the partners had to be sold. Roscoe and his family were to move house constantly until 1824. His large collection of valuable books, manuscripts, and art treasures was also sold. He insisted on preparing catalogues for the sale of his books and manuscripts which took place in 1816 and lasted fourteen days. These realized the sum of £5150 and his paintings £5875. The largest section of his library consisted of Italian poetry comprising 345 works including early editions of the poetical works of Lorenzo de' Medici. The books which aroused the greatest interest were Roscoe's series of early printed books illustrating the rise and progress of the art of printing. Perhaps the most precious of Roscoe's early Italian books was the Canzonieri of Petrarch, printed in Venice in 1470, described by the bibliophile Thomas Dibdin as among the most beautiful, as well as the rarest, of those executed by Vindelinus de' Spira. Roscoe's books were widely dispersed as a result of the sale. He and his friends, determined that his collection of early Italian and north European paintings remain intact in Liverpool, launched a successful appeal, making it possible for the collection to be presented to the Liverpool Royal Institution. In 1893 the collection was handed over to the Walker Art Gallery on loan and finally as a gift in 1948. It was the loss of his books rather than his paintings which Roscoe felt most deeply. They had been his constant friends and companions for nearly forty years. The sonnet he wrote on parting with his books is one of the best of his poems.

Apart from his collection of paintings perhaps Roscoe's most tangible and enduring legacy to Liverpool was the founding, along with Dr Traill, of the Royal Institution as an adult educational centre, which was opened in 1817. Roscoe, as president, delivered an address, setting forth his ideals of what the institution might become as a centre of scholarship, learning, and the arts. Out of the Royal Institution sprang a well-known school and later the foundation of the University College, which in turn became the University of Liverpool.
Later literary works
In 1819 Roscoe was made an honorary member of the Royal Society of Literature. The prince regent arranged for him to receive an annual payment of 300 guineas for his services as a writer of literary history. He was also a prolific writer of poetry. Sir Alfred Shennan, in his introduction to George Chandler's biography of Roscoe, wrote:
the Roscoe poems remarkably exemplify the muse, domestic and celebratory, of a cultured eighteenth century gentleman of a Whiggish way of thought. They help to illustrate that century's combination of classical tradition and the awakenings of interest in human rights and emancipation. (Chandler, xxxvi)
In 1818 Roscoe published a new edition of the hymnal in use at the Renshaw Street Unitarian Church, adding nine hymns written by himself. Roscoe's God is a God of majestic order, a transcendent God, glimpses of whom may be seen in the world of nature. Like Robert Burns, of whom he was a great admirer, he was not able to believe in a God who calls some and not others. Roscoe was a deeply religious man, and God was never far from his thoughts. The most popular of all Roscoe's poems were those written for his family—The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (1807)—of which 40,000 copies were sold within a year of publication. In these imaginative poems Roscoe personified creatures great and small. Unlike Aesop's Fables they are totally lacking in moral content. They were written to encourage children to appreciate the world of nature. Roscoe became a pioneer in a literary field followed by Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, and many others.

In 1821 Roscoe was invited by the publishers C. and G. Rivington to prepare a new edition of the works of Alexander Pope together with a biography of the poet. The production of this ten-volume edition proved a wearisome task. After publication in 1824, Roscoe was accused of blatant plagiarism by other contemporary editors and became involved in bitter controversy. His last published work gave him much more pleasure. It was a botanical work entitled Monandrian Plants of the Order Scitamineae, issued in parts from 1824 to 1828. Roscoe was well placed in Liverpool to obtain exotic plants from far-off lands for himself and for the Liverpool Botanic Garden with the help of shipping friends. A flower from Nepal is still named Roscoea.
Final years
Jane Roscoe died on 24 September 1824 shortly after the family had settled into their new, and final, home at 180 Lodge Lane, Liverpool. The strain of bringing up a family of ten, seven removals, her husband's unceasing energy, his periodic extravagance, the bankruptcy, and a constant flow of visitors took its toll. After Jane's death, Roscoe's youngest daughter kept house for her father for the rest of his life.

A vivid description of Roscoe towards the end of his life is given by Washington Irving, the American man of letters:
One of the first places to which a stranger is taken in Liverpool is the Athenaeum. As I was once visiting this haunt, my attention was drawn to a person just entering the room. He was advanced in life, tall and of a form that might once have been commanding, but it was a little bowed by time, perhaps by care. There was something in his whole appearance that indicated a being of a different order from the bustling race about him ... I enquired his name and was informed that it was Roscoe. I drew back with an involuntary feeling of veneration. This then was an author, of celebrity: this was one of those men whose voices have gone forth to the ends of the earth, with whom I have communed in the solitudes of America. (W. Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., 2 vols., 1821, 1.19–20)
Among the many visitors from far and wide whom Roscoe welcomed in his home was Raja Rammohan Roy from Calcutta, regarded by some as the father of modern India, who persuaded his fellow countrymen to abolish the barbarous custom of suttee. He also welcomed J. J. Audubon, who brought his portfolio of Birds of America for publication in Britain. Among his last visitors was Felicia Hemans, author of Casabianca, who described Roscoe ‘as a delightful old man with a fine Roman style of head, sitting in the study of his small house surrounded by busts, books and flowers’ (Espinasse, 2.283).

In 1827 Roscoe suffered two or three strokes causing a loss of memory and a difficulty in speech, but he was able to continue writing. After a severe attack of flu he died at 180 Lodge Lane, Liverpool, on 27 June 1831. The funeral took place at the Renshaw Street Chapel, and the interment in the burial-ground near by in the heart of the city which he loved and served so well.

Donald A. Macnaughton

(Donald A. Macnaughton, ‘Roscoe, William (1753–1831)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://proxy.bostonathenaeum.org:2055/view/article/24084, accessed 21 Dec 2015])

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