William Mudford
William Mudford was a British journalist and author born in London in 1782, the son of a shopkeeper. He demonstrated an early affinity for literature and began his writing career with a critical inquiry into the works of Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1802. Mudford's first novel, published in 1803, marked the beginning of a diverse literary career that included novels, translations, and editorial work. He was heavily involved in politics, attending lectures at the University of Edinburgh and engaging in public debates, particularly with fellow writer William Hazlitt during his time as a parliamentary reporter for the Morning Chronicle.
Mudford eventually became editor of the Courier, where he worked for nearly fifteen years, navigating both professional successes and controversies. His writing included notable works such as "The Iron Shroud," which gained critical acclaim and influenced later writers like Edgar Allan Poe. Throughout his career, Mudford maintained relationships with prominent literary figures, including poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He passed away in 1848, having made significant contributions to the literary and journalistic landscapes of his time.
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William Mudford
Writer
- Born: January 8, 1782
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: March 10, 1848
Biography
Journalist and author William Mudford was born in London in 1782, the son of a Piccadilly shopkeeper. He received an ordinary education, and he early on displayed an interest in and talent for the study of literature. At age eighteen, he was hired as assistant secretary to the duke of Kent, with whom he traveled to Gibraltar at age twenty. In 1802, the same year as his trip to Gibraltar, Mudford published his first book, A Critical Enquiry into the Moral Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, and then returned to London, publishing the next year his first novel, Augustus and Mary: Or, The Maid of Buttermere, a Domestic Tale. For the next ten years, Mudford earned a living producing translations and editing texts. His second novel, Nubilia in Search of a Husband, was an attempt to bolster his literary reputation.
Mudford also indulged an interest in politics, enrolling at University of Edinburgh lectures, where he met and befriended John Black. The two penned an exchange of letters debating the worth of classical education for publication in Political Register. Mudford edited and wrote for the literature-focused The Contemplatist for a short time, and the periodical’s collected essays were published in 1810. Mudford then became a parliamentary reporter for Morning Chronicle, where his public disputes with writer William Hazlitt would soon begin. Mudford quickly advanced to drama critic for the publication, and Hazlitt, who also joined the paper as a parliamentary reporter and who already disliked Mudford, was envious. When Mudford penned a column in September, 1813, that was less than his best work, Hazlitt pounced and published a stingingly critical letter in response the next week. A battle of words through the newspaper ensued, and the newspaper’s editor, in the end, recognized Hazlitt’s talents and made the two rivals split the drama critic duties.
In 1814 Mudford left the newspaper to become assistant editor of an evening paper, the Courier, which had been founded in 1792 amid the French Revolution and had developed Tory leanings by the time Mudford joined it. Controversy occasionally colored Mudford’s tenure with the Courier, of which he became editor in 1817, and he was pushed out by ultra-Tories in 1828. However, during his nearly fifteen years with the newspaper, Mudford enjoyed some substantial professional and personal successes, including a friendship he developed with poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who published in the newspaper, and a marriage, which produced eight children.
Mudford published the novel The Five Nights of St. Albans in 1829 to critical approval and commercial success. He published perhaps his best-known work, the short story “The Iron Shroud,” in 1830 in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. The story, which was published in chapbook form in 1839, inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Over the years, Blackwood’s featured numerous stories, essays, and reviews by Mudford. He edited both the Kentish Observer and The Canterbury Magazine in the 1830’s, and he published his last of many stories in the early 1840’s. He died in 1848.