Richard Henry Horne aggregated collection of records

fonds

approximately 1834-1882

9661177

5.58 metres of textual material (31 boxes) and 2 outsized items

Richard Henry Horne (1802-1884), poet, was born on 31 December 1802 at Edmonton, near London. Richard was brought up at the home of his rich paternal grandmother and attended John Clarke's School where John Keats was also a pupil. In April 1819 Horne entered Sandhurst Military College but left in December 1820. In 1823 after reading Shelley's Queen Mab, he decided to become a poet.
In 1825 Horne sailed as midshipman in the Libertad to fight for Mexican independence. After two years in America he returned to London, where over the next decade he published three poetic dramas, contributed prolifically to literary magazines, edited the Monthly Repository in 1836-37 and served on the royal commission on child employment in factories in 1841. His most famous year was 1843 when he published his epic Orion. In 1847 he married Catherine, daughter of David Foggo.
Tempted by dreams of fortune on the Australian goldfields and a chance to escape, Horne arrived at Melbourne in September. He soon became commander of the private gold escort and in 1853 assistant gold commissioner at Heathcote and Waranga. He was erratic in both posts and was dismissed in November 1854. By 1855 his English ties were severed, his wife having requested a formal separation. In Melbourne he became clerk to (Sir) Archibald Michie, and lived with a Scottish girl; their son, born in 1857, died after seven months. He made several unsuccessful runs at parliament, and as a commissioner of sewerage and water supply in 1857 when Melbourne's new reservoir was under public attack, he did little to appease the critics. He helped to found the Tahbilk vineyard on the Goulburn River. In 1862-63 the Royal Literary Fund assisted him.
In 1867 he celebrated the arrival of the Duke of Edinburgh with a cantata, Galatea Secunda, signing himself Richard Hengist Horne, the name by which he was henceforth known. In Australia he produced no significant poetry but some good prose: Australian Facts and Prospects (London, 1859), and an essay, 'An Election Contest in Australia' in Cornhill, 5 (1862). Disillusioned, he sailed in June 1869 for England where he became a literary doyen, producing many new works all artistically worthless. His poverty was relieved in 1874 by a government pension, and he died at Margate on 13 March 1884.
Source: ADB

COLLECTION 1:
Richard Henry Horne papers, 1834-1882

COLLECTION 2:
Richard Henry Horne further papers, 1834-1882