George Soane (1790–1860) was an English writer and dramatist. George Soane John Soane Jr Owen

Life

The younger son of

John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor ...

, he was born in London. He graduated B.A. from

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

, in 1811. Shortly afterwards he married Agnes Boaden, against his parents' wishes. His writing career was not enough to earn a living. Soane fell into debt, and was imprisoned. In 1814 he was editing the ''Theatrical Inquisitor'', but also served time for fraud. He gave evidence on the

King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from the Middle Ages until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were he ...

, from his experience of it, to a committee of enquiry in 1815. In ''The Champion'' during September 1815 Soane attacked his father's reputation as an architect, in two anonymous articles. His mother died shortly afterwards. These pieces led to a family rupture, and indirectly to the foundation of

Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a Historic house museum, house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of Neoclassical architecture, neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and ...

. Soane attempted to block the private Act of Parliament of 1833 that set up the museum's endowment. The matter was debated in the House of Commons for an hour, with

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an Agrarianism, agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restr ...

putting Soane's side of the argument, that he would be deprived of a rightful inheritance.

Joseph Hume Joseph Hume Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 January 1777 – 20 February 1855) was a Scottish surgeon and Radicals (UK), Radical Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP.Ronald K. Huch, Paul R. Ziegler 1985 Joseph Hume, the People's M.P ...

spoke in favour of the act, which was passed. Soane died on 12 July 1860.

Works

Drama

Soane became known as an author of

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

* ''The Bohemian: a Tragedy'', London, 1817. * ''The Falls of Clyde: a Melodrama'', London, 1817. * '' The Innkeeper's Daughter'', Drury Lane, 1817. * '' Rob Roy, the Gregarach. A romantick drama, in three acts, etc'', Drury Lane, 1818. * ''Self-Sacrifice: a Melodrama'', London, 1819. * ''The Dwarf of Naples: a Tragi-comedy'', London, 1819. * '' The Hebrew: a Drama'', London, 1820. * ''Pride shall have a Fall: a Comedy'', London, 1824. * ''Faustus, or the Demon of Drachenfels'', London, 1825. * ''Aladdin: a Fairy Opera'', London, 1826. * ''The Night Dancers: an Opera'', London, 1846. * ''The Island of Calypso: an Operatic Masque'', London, 1850.

Other works

Soane's other works included: Master Flea Cruikshank

* ''Knight Damon and a Robber Chief'', London, 1812. * ''The Eve of St. Marco: a Novel'', London, 1813. * ''The Peasant of Lucerne'', London, 1815. * ''Specimens of German Romance'', London, 1826. * ''The Frolics of Puck'', London, 1834. * ''Life of the Duke of Wellington'', London, 1839–40. * ''The Last Ball and other Tales'', Woking, 1843. * ''January Eve: a Tale'', London, 1847. * ''New Curiosities of Literature'', London, 1847. Soane also made translations from French, German, and Italian. He translated the novella ''

Undine Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern l ...

'' by

Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué (; 12 February 1777 – 23 January 1843) was a German writer of the Romantic style. Biography He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in h ...

into English in 1818, and there was a stage version by 1821. He supplied letterpress in 1820, translating some extracts of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

's German, when the illustrations by

Moritz Retzsch Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch (December 9, 1779 – June 11, 1857) was a German painter, draughtsman, and etcher. Retzsch was born in the Saxon capital Dresden. He joined the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1798 under Cajetan Toscani and J� ...

to ''

Faust I ''Faust: A Tragedy'' (, , or

aust. The tragedy's first part ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of bot ...

is the first part of the Tragedy, tragic Play (theatre), play ''Goethe's Faust, Faust'' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and is considered by many as the greatest work of German liter ...

'' were published in London (plates copied by Henry Moses). He was also credited by George Willis as one of the anonymous translators of ''

Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations ''Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations'' is an anthology of translated German stories in three volumes, published in 1823. Stories Publication The book was announced as being prepared for publication in January and February 1 ...

'' (1823).

Notes

;Attribution

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soane, George 1790 births 1860 deaths English translators 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English translators