Robert Bage (11 March 1730
– 1 September 1801) was an English businessman and novelist.
Biography
Born in
Darley Abbey
Darley Abbey is a former historic mill village, now a suburb of the city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire, England. It is located approximately north of the city centre, on the west bank of the River Derwent, and forms part ...
, near
Derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
,
Bage was the son of a paper-maker who had four wives, the first of whom was Bage's mother. She died soon after his birth. Bage received his early education at a common school in Derby, where he was an excellent student. He attained a working knowledge of Latin by the age of seven. He was given his training as a paper-maker while he was an apprentice to his father. At the age of 23, Bage married a beautiful and wealthy young woman. With the boost in his finances he set up a paper-manufacturing business in
Elford,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, which he continued until his death.
[Scott (1870) p. 606]
Bage was a skilled businessman and his smooth running of his business allowed him time for intellectual pursuits. He learned the French language on his own, through books, and studied mathematics. In 1765 he entered into a partnership in an iron foundry with three other men including
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosophy, natural philosopher, physiology, physiologist, Society for Effecting the ...
. After 14 years in business, the partnership was terminated, leaving Bage with a loss of more than 1,000 pounds. This was a considerable loss, and Bage decided to begin his career in literature partly to make up for it. He published his first novel, ''Mount Henneth'', in 1781.
Bage left Elford in 1793 and resided nearby in
Tamworth. He died in 1801, and was survived by his wife and two of their sons. Another son, John, had died as a young man, a great affliction to Bage. His oldest son, Charles, settled in
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
, where he became a cotton manufacturer, and his youngest son, Edward, became a surgeon.
Literary work and public life
It was not until he was 53 that he took to literature; however, in the 15 years following, he produced six novels, of which
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
said that "strong mind, playful fancy, and extensive knowledge are everywhere apparent." Scott included ''Mount Henneth'' (1781), ''Barham Downs'' (1784), and ''James Wallace'' (1792) in his series of ''
Ballantyne novels''. Bage was brought up as a
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
, but he became a philosophical and religious radical after the
French Revolution. He advocated democracy and equality (the abolition of the peerage), as well as the
abolition of institutional religion. A member of the
Derby Philosophical Society
The Derby Philosophical Society was a club for gentlemen in Derby founded in 1783 by Erasmus Darwin. The club had many notable members and also offered the first institutional library in Derby that was available to some section of the public.
P ...
,
he was also associated with the
Lunar Society of Birmingham
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 181 ...
.
The work for which he is chiefly read today is ''
Hermsprong'', his last novel. Although regarded as radical at the time, it is somewhat disjointed. The first half has strong philosophical content, but in the second half the book, whilst retaining a strong satirical element, becomes more of a
sentimental novel
The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th- and 19th-century literary genre which presents and celebrates the concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensi ...
. The philosophical challenge of the novel is that it concerns an American who has been raised entirely by
American Indians, without either formal education or religion. With only nature to teach him, he sees through the hypocrisy of society and English manners. It is notable for pursuing the theme of the
noble savage
In Western anthropology, Western philosophy, philosophy, and European literature, literature, the Myth of the Noble savage refers to a stock character who is uncorrupted by civilization. As such, the "noble" savage symbolizes the innate goodness a ...
and, in particular, "nativism" or
innatism
In the philosophy of mind, innatism is the view that the mind is born with already-formed ideas, knowledge, and beliefs. The opposing doctrine, that the mind is a '' tabula rasa'' (blank slate) at birth and all knowledge is gained from experience ...
.
Bibliography
*''Mount Henneth. A novel in a series of letters'' (1781)
*
Vol. I*
Vol. II*''Barham Downs'' (1784)
*
Vol. I*
Vol. II*''The Fair Syrian'' (1787)
*
Volume I*
Vol.II*''James Wallace'' (1788)
*
Vol. I*
Vol. II*
Vol. III*''Man as he is'' (1792)
*
Volume I*
Volume II*
Volume III*
Volume IV*''
Hermsprong'' (1796)
References
Sources
*
External links
Biography on Revolutionary Players website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bage, Robert
1730 births
1801 deaths
18th-century English novelists
People from Darley Abbey
English businesspeople
18th-century English male writers
18th-century English writers
English male novelists
People from Elford
People from Tamworth, Staffordshire
Writers from Derbyshire