Edward Lanzer Joseph was a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, playwright and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

(born in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

in 1792 and died in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

in 1838) who emigrated to Trinidad in 1817. Joseph was of

Anglo-Jewish British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who identify as Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021. History ...

descent. He was the author of the novel '' Warner Arundell: The Adventures of a Creole'', which was published in 1838. He also published another book, ''History of Trinidad'', in 1838. Joseph wrote, produced and translated plays while living in Trinidad that were performed in Port of Spain by a local amateur troupe known as the Brunswick Amateurs. In response to the annually recurring imposition of

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

from 1815 onwards by the Governor of Trinidad, Sir Ralph Woodford, Joseph wrote a musical farce in 1832 titled "Martial law in Trinidad; a musical farce in two acts.". It satirized the annual muster of militia troops each

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

to squash the possibility of a local slave rebellion. The play was notable for its realistic portrayal of the local dialects, such as

Trinidadian Creole Trinidadian Creole is an English-Based creole language commonly spoken throughout the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. It is distinct from Tobagonian Creole – particularly at the basilectal level – and from other Lesser Antillean ...

, and of the African and Creole ethnic groups on the island.

References

External links

''Warner Arundell'' by E. L. Joseph
full Open Access copy available in the

Digital Library of the Caribbean The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is an international digital library operated collaboratively by the contributing partners. Partners Current partners continue to grow on a regular basis and are listed on thdLOC Partner Page Partners in ...

1792 births English Jewish writers People from London Trinidad and Tobago novelists 1838 deaths 19th-century novelists Trinidad and Tobago male writers 19th-century British male writers Caribbean Jews {{Caribbean-writer-stub