James Webbe Tobin (1767–1814) was an English abolitionist, the son of a plantation owner on

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation ...

. He was a political radical, and friend of leading literary men.

Life

He was the eldest son of

James Tobin James Tobin (March 5, 1918 – March 11, 2002) was an American economist who served on the Council of Economic Advisers and consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He d ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

and his first wife Elizabeth Webbe;

George Tobin George Tobin is an American musical artist and record producer who has produced albums for a long list of musical artists including Robert John, Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, Kicking Harold, and PC Quest. He is best known, however, for discov ...

and

John Tobin John Tobin may refer to: People * Sir John Tobin (1763–1851), Liverpool merchant * John Tobin (dramatist) (1770–1804), author of ''The Honey Moon'' * John F. Tobin (1880–1954), American football player and coach * Jack Tobin (1892–1 ...

were his brothers. His father was in business with

John Pretor Pinney John Pretor Pinney (1740 – 23 January 1818) was a plantation owner on the island of Nevis in the West Indies and was a sugar merchant in Bristol. He made his fortune from England’s demand for sugar. His Bristol residence is now the city' ...

, from 1783. Tobin was educated at

King Edward VI School, Southampton King Edward VI School (also known as King Edward's, or KES) is a selective co-educational independent school founded in Southampton, United Kingdom, in 1553. The school was founded at the request of William Capon, who bequeathed money in his ...

and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Doroth ...

, where he matriculated in 1787, and graduated B.A. in 1792. From 1795, until his brother John's death in 1804, they lived together in London. In the 1790s Tobin befriended

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lak ...

and

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...

; Wordsworth knew, through

Basil Montagu Basil Montagu (24 April 1770 – 27 November 1851) was a British jurist, barrister, writer and philanthropist. He was educated at Charterhouse and studied law at Cambridge. He was significantly involved in reforms to bankruptcy laws of Britain. ...

and

Francis Wrangham The Venerable Francis Wrangham (11 June 1769 – 27 December 1842) was the Archdeacon of the East Riding. He was a noted author, translator, book collector and Abolitionism in the United Kingdom, abolitionist. Life Wrangham was born on 11 June ...

, the sons of John Pretor Pinney, and may have met Tobin through Montagu, or the Pinneys. Tobin brought Tom Wedgewood to meet Coleridge and Wordsworth in September 1797; Wedgwood later became Coleridge's patron. In letters of 1798, Wordsworth announced to Tobin, then

James Losh James Losh (1763–1833) was an English lawyer, reformer and Unitarian in Newcastle upon Tyne. In politics, he was a significant contact in the North East for the national Whig leadership. William Wordsworth the poet called Losh in a letter of 1821 ...

, his major poetic project under the working title ''The Recluse''. Tobin had a degenerative eye condition, and at this period he was only partially sighted, ruling out a career. During 1799 he took part in the

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

experiments of

Humphry Davy Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for the ...

. He was an observer when Davy experimented with other inhalations. From 1807 Tobin and his family were on Nevis. He took a leading part in the cruelty case brought in 1810 against the plantation owner

Edward Huggins Edward Huggins (June 10, 1832 – January 24, 1907) was a Hudson's Bay Company clerk, Pierce County commissioner, Pierce County auditor, and historian of the Northwestern United States. The Fort Nisqually Living History Museum has a collection ...

; Huggins had bought the Montravers estate on Nevis from the Pretor Pinney family in 1808. Huggins was acquitted; Tobin made his views known, writing in particular to

Hugh Elliot Hugh Elliot (6 April 1752 – 1 December 1830) was a British diplomat and then a colonial governor. Education and early career Hugh Elliot was born on 6April 1752, the second son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, and the younger brother of Gilbert E ...

, the Governor of the Leeward Islands, claiming that the jury was packed. The ''Christian Observer'' noted that Tobin's blindness meant he could not be challenged to a duel for his stand. James Stephen wrote that others who backed him did not escape feuds.

Works

Tobin contributed to ''The Annual Anthology'' edited by

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ...

, and edited its third volume (1802). In 1812 he wrote a ''Reply'' to the pamphlet ''A plain statement of the motives which gave rise to the public punishment of several negroes'' (1811), by

Thomas John Cottle Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas t ...

, son-in-law of Edward Huggins.

Family

Tobin married Jane Mallet or Mullett (1784–1837) in 1807. She was the daughter of

Thomas Mullett Thomas Mullett (also Mullet) (1745–1814) was an English businessman and supporter of the American Revolution. Early life Mullett was a Quaker from Taunton, Devon, the son of Jane Mullet; Thomas Melhuish (c.1737–1802), a Quaker minister and s ...

(1745–1814), a Bristol stationer connected by marriage to Caleb Evans, a Particular Baptist minister in Bristol. They had at least four children, including the eldest son John James, born 1808/9, the friend of Humphry Davy. After her husband's death, Jane Tobin and her family returned to England.Timothy Whelan, ''West Country Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720–1840'', The Wordsworth Circle Vol. 43, No. 1, Wordsworth Summer Conference Papers, A Selection: 2011 (Winter 2012), pp. 44–55, at p. 54. Published by: Marilyn Gaull. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24045515

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobin, James Webbe 1767 births 1814 deaths English abolitionists