About the author

Robin Jenner was born in 1946 and grew up in Newhaven, Sussex, a few
miles east of Brighton. He and his late brother Martin both played the guitar
and they formed their first band in 1960 and for the next few years, enjoyed
some success. In 1963, they went their separate musical ways, Martin
enjoying huge success during a lengthy career which included playing with
the likes of Cliff Richard and the Everly Brothers. Robin took a lengthy
break from live playing and went to teachers training college in 1971 to train
as a history teacher, but the pull of the music business brought him back and
history took a back seat for many years. After a period teaching guitar and
playing in a London based band, he decided to retire from live playing and
return to spend more time studying history, the 18th century being his main
passion.
Robins other interest is writing, and during his career in music, has written
many songs including two musicals. The twin passions of writing and
history led Robin down the inevitable path of writing this book which he
hopes will be read and enjoyed by students, academics, or just about
anybody who is interested in history and wants to know more about this
fascinating period and the people who shaped it. When not writing, Robin
works in the antiques trade and as a volunteer at Gloucester Cathedral.

Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of Jim Read and Sue Lind, two great
friends who I miss so much, but who both changed my life in different ways.
I will never forget either of them and I have so much to thank them both for.

Robin Jenner

EIGHTEEN LIVES FROM

THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY

Copyright Robin Jenner (2015)

The right of Robin Jenner to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for
damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 978 1 84963 881 4
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Acknowledgments
There are many people who have given me great support whilst I have been
researching and writing this book, but I must especially thank the following
Lynne Lee is the manager of the gift shop at Gloucester Cathedral and
listened patiently over a lengthy period of time whilst I talked about writing
it but never actually did anything about doing it. One day, whilst listening
once again to my ideas she told me in the nicest possible way to stop talking
about it and get on and do it. If it wasnt for that comment one morning in
2007, I might well still be droning on about it now. As it was, after my shift
at the cathedral, I went home that afternoon and started work on it.
Id like to thank Kate Saidi who was working at the Gloucester branch of
Waterstones Bookshop at the research stage of the book and spent several
years looking up what Miv, another worker who was there at that time,
called Robins obscure books! Always done with patience and a smile
thrown in, Im very grateful to Kate for her enormous help.
My long standing friends Pete and Linda Base deserve my thanks for helping
me out in so many ways when I first came to Gloucester in February, 2002.
They gave me a home for several months when I moved up from Brighton
and did so much to help me settle in to a place where initially I knew
nobody. I would not have been able to settle here without their support and if
I hadnt settled in Gloucester the way that I have, this book would almost
certainly have never been written.
Id like to thank my friends, Jeff and Pam Gray for their support whilst I was
working on the book. Like me, they have a great interest in the 18th century
and it has helped me enormously to have someone around to share that
interest with.
Caroline Green has been a great friend for many years and has always
supported my creative efforts, be they music or this book. After I had spent
eighteen months writing to publishers and getting nowhere, she was there
encouraging me and gave me the final push to sign on the dotted line when
I was about to give up even though I had secured an offer. I have always
valued her friendship and without her encouragement at a crucial time, the
manuscript of this book might well have ended up gathering dust in a
cupboard somewhere in my study.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to a very good friend of many years, Gavin
Bourne. Gavin and I have worked together as musicians and not only is he a
fine musician, he is an expert on computers whilst everybody who knows me
knows that the sum total of my knowledge of computers can be written in
block capitals on the back of a postage stamp and there would still be space
left to write Tolstoys War and Peace. He has helped me out on numerous
occasions and done it from Sydney, Australia where he now lives with his

wife, Maria and young son, Ethan. I owe him a great deal for his knowledge
and patience.
I should like to thank Professor Lucy Delap, Lecturer in Modern British
History, University of Cambridge. The remarkable thing about Lucys
contribution is that at the time of writing, we had yet to meet and our
communications have been by letter or e-mail. I saw Lucy on television
talking to Julian Fellowes and the combination of her being a published
author and a historian made me wonder if she would be able to help me. She
also seemed eminently approachable and so I took a chance and wrote to her.
I dont know how she felt at receiving a letter from a complete stranger
asking for advice as to how to get a publisher, but three weeks later, I
received a lengthy hand written letter which she had clearly put a lot of
thought into, and I shall always be grateful for her comments.
Finally, Id like to thank all at Austin/Macauley, the publishers, for having
faith in me and giving me the chance to get this, my first book, into print. It
is difficult in these economic times to spend money and time on an unknown
writer, and Im very grateful to them.
There are others too many to mention, but they know who they are, and
along with those mentioned above, must know that I am deeply grateful to
them all.

Robin Jenner
Gloucester, March, 2015.

Contents
Introduction

13

1 William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806)

18

2 Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820)

49

3 Admiral Arthur Phillip (1738-1814)

77

4 Fanny Burney (1752-1840)

106

5 Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823)

132

6 Admiral William Bligh (1754-1817)

158

7 William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

184

8 Jane Austen (1775-1817)

219

9 John Harrison (1693-1776)

243

10 Captain James Cook (1728-1779)

267

11 Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood (1748-1810)

298

12 Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806)

328

13 Lord Frederick North (1732-1792)

357

14 Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

384

15 Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

409

16 Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

440

17 King George III (1738-1820)

475

18 Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

515

Introduction
This book contains an introduction to the lives and careers of eighteen people who
made their mark in the eighteenth century hence the title of the book. I have
written this book with the hope that people will read it and if they find they are
interested in some of the people contained therein, could be tempted to find out
more about that person by buying a full biography. I hope also that readers
approaching the 18th century for the first time will gain some knowledge of this
period which contained many changes in the way people led their lives and also gain
an interest in finding out more about this fascinating period in our history that
produced so many great people.
I am starting this book with this brief introduction by giving a simple outline of life
in the 18th century from different angles and in my choice of people, I have tried to
cover the main aspects of life such as politics, religion, war, the slave trade,
navigation, exploration, feminism, medicine, botany, and most of the parts of life I
have featured in the various chapters. There are eighteen main people featured here
but I have sometimes given a brief outline of other people within the main chapter
that I am writing about in case they too, will interest the reader. For instance, in the
chapter on Edward Jenner, I have included some information on Dr. John Hunter
(1728-93) who tutored Jenner from 1770 until 1773 and had such a profound effect
on Jenners life and work. I have deliberately kept away from using endless notes at
the bottom of each page which some writers use but which I think interrupts the
flow that the reader is hopefully experiencing. Instead I have woven other names
such as Hunter into the text of the chapter.
Each chapter has a specific purpose:- for instance, I have written about Admiral
William Bligh because the man has been treated badly by history and many untruths
have been written which I have tried to put into perspective. Admiral Arthur Phillip
(1738-1814) is included because he was in charge of the first settlement in New
South Wales which grew into the great country of Australia that we know today.
William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) has a chapter because this extraordinary man
became Prime Minister at the age of twenty-four and served in this post for twenty
out of the next twenty-three years from his appointment. The youthful age in which
he became Prime Minister and the length of time that he served in that position will
never happen again. I have included a chapter on King George III (1738-1820) as he
reigned for the second half of the century, but I have also included Mary
Wollstoncraft (1759-97) and Thomas Paine (1737-1809), both of whom would have
preferred Britain to be a republic. I have also written a chapter on Admiral Cuthbert
Collingwood (1748-1810), the forgotten hero of the Battle of Trafalgar. When
Nelson was fatally shot by a French sniper, it was Collingwood who took command
of the fleet although he is barely known about by the public and was certainly badly
treated by the Admiralty at the time. The biography on Collingwood by Max Adams
goes a long way towards setting the record straight and I hope that my small effort
will be of some help as well. Medicine is touched on with the discovery of
13

vaccination being covered in the chapter on Edward Jenner (1749-1823). This

brilliant man cured the world of the dreaded disease of smallpox which killed
millions and he did it with no thought of either fame or financial gain which is why
he turned down a chance to go on Captain Cooks second great voyage of discovery
in 1772. He also turned down the chance to have a lucrative practice in London to
return to the country and work in his beloved village of Berkeley, Gloucestershire. I
claim the right to praise Jenner to the skies as he is not a relation of mine would
that he were! I havent covered everybody who made their mark in the eighteenth
century, in fact, Ive barely scratched the surface, but I hope that this book will be a
start. What follows then is a very brief outline on some aspects of 18th century life
for the reader to look at which I hope will whet the appetite and encourage the same
reader to learn more about the people who lived during that time. The 18th century
was a fascinating period in which great inventions took place and the industrial
revolution which happened during this period changed the way people lived.
Speaking in more general terms, farming was important and many people lived on
the land, although farming methods changed during this period. For hundreds of
years, villages were surrounded by open fields and the inhabitants had rented strips
of land to grow their crops and feed any animals they had. Gradually from the
middle of the century, more and more land was enclosed and whole fields were
fenced in.
Attitudes also changed as women writers such as novelists Fanny Burney (17521840) and Jane Austen (1775-1817) became accepted, along with political writers
such as Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97), a feminist before the term had been coined.
Before these and other women writers, women often published their books
anonymously.
The 18th century is known as the Georgian period due to the names of the Kings
who ruled. George I ruled between 1714 and 1727, George II between 1727 and
1760 whilst George III ruled between 1760 and 1820 although illness meant that his
son George ruled as Regent between 1811 and his fathers death in 1820, when he
became King George IV in his own right, ruling until his own death in 1830.
The position of Prime Minister was effectively created by King George I. The King
was German and only distantly related to the English Royal Family, but was made
King as the Act of Settlement of 1701 stipulated that the Monarch should be a
Protestant. George I was the first of the Hanoverians to rule because there was no
direct Protestant successor to Queen Anne who ruled from 1702 until 1714. Because
George I refused to learn English, he took virtually no part in the affairs of state,
refusing to attend Parliament and leaving the business of government to a small
group of members who eventually became what is now the Cabinet. The Cabinet
needed a Chairman to keep the policy meetings in order and to feed the results back
to the King and this job went to Robert Walpole (1676-1745), who by definition
became the first Prime Minister serving in the post between 1721 and 1742. The
century not only brought the first ever Prime Minister but as mentioned earlier the
youngest ever Prime Minister in William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) who took
office when he was just 24 years of age. He served almost as long as Walpole being
Prime Minister from 1783 until 1801, and then again from 1804 until his death in
1806.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a friend and parliamentary colleague of Pitts,
headed a lengthy campaign to get rid of the slave trade which was abolished in 1807
14

with slavery itself finally being abolished in 1833. The British economy relied on
the slave trade which is why it took so long to abolish it. The so-called triangular
trade worked by Britain shipping goods such as cotton, cloth and iron from ports
such as Bristol and Liverpool to Africa where it was used to buy slaves. These
slaves had often been dragged away from their families and many were children
who would never see their parents again. They were put on board ship in the most
appalling conditions and carried across the Atlantic to the West Indies where they
were sold to work on the plantations there. The slave traders would then load their
ships with sugar, tobacco and various raw materials before returning to Britain.
Huge profits were made by the ship owners, along with the plantation and cotton
factory owners. The slaves suffered dreadfully and many died on route which
sometimes was considered a merciful release for them, so appalling were the
conditions in which they were kept. The campaign to end this barbaric trade took
nearly twenty years and took a toll on Wilberforces health along with those of
people like Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) who was also in the forefront of the fight
to abolish the trade. During most of the century the trafficking of slaves was
considered perfectly acceptable and much of the countrys wealth was built on this
appalling trade. Wilberforce lived just long enough to hear that it had finally been
abolished in 1833.
Britain had been at war with France both in 1756 until 1763, and again in 1793 until
1815. The war with France between 1756 and 1763 was known as the seven years
war and was fought over who controlled Canada and North America. Up until that
time, Britain governed thirteen states on the east coast of America whilst France
held the rest. In 1759, the Prime Minister of Britain was Thomas Pelham-Holles
(1693-1768), who had held the office from 1754 until 1756 and then again from
1757 until 1762. However, the dominant person in his second administration was
William Pitt the Elder (1708-78), later Lord Chatham, who prosecuted the war and it
was he who sent General Wolfe (1727-59) to attack Quebec which was held by the
French which he successfully did although Wolfe was killed in the fight. However,
the British carried on and by September, 1760, had captured Montreal and
eventually took control of Canada in its entirity. Britain now had control over
Canada as well as virtually all of North America, which added to the thirteen
colonies on the east coast, meant that the entire nation was governed by Britain.
It was this situation that America was in when in 1775, the thirteen colonies rose up
in revolt over the taxes imposed on them by Britain. In 1773, the Tea Act enabled
Britain to sell the colonies tea via the East India Company but imposed tax on them
which they refused to pay resulting in the consignment of tea being thrown
overboard during a mass demonstration known as the Boston Tea Party. The British
retaliated by closing the harbour and then stationing troops in Boston. The first clash
between the British and the American soldiers happened in April 1775 at Lexington.
The famous Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson (17431826) in 1776 and after that had been approved, there was no going back the
colonies would fight to the death for their independence. At first, it was felt that the
colonies could not possibly win a war against Britain who had a well-trained army
which was fighting against a bunch of New England farmers and mechanics that the
so-called troops of America consisted of. However, America had a brilliant
Commander-in-Chief in George Washington (1732-99) and gradually the tide turned
and Britain for all its troops, begun to realise that it was difficult to run the war from
the mother country which was thousands of miles away, and with France and Spain
15