Frederick Locker-Lampson
Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821-1895) was an English poet, civil servant, and bibliophile, known for his connections to notable literary figures of the 19th century. Born in Greenwich, he faced health challenges and difficulties in his early education, which influenced his later life. After a brief apprenticeship, he worked as a civil service clerk at the Admiralty but found more fulfillment in his literary pursuits. He married Lady Charlotte Bruce in 1850, with whom he had a daughter, and later remarried after her death.
Locker-Lampson is recognized for his contributions to light verse, particularly through his anthology "London Lyrics," published in 1857. His poetry is characterized by elegance and wit, echoing the styles of contemporaries like Thomas Hood and W. M. Praed. He was well-acquainted with eminent writers such as Charles Dickens and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and his literary gatherings were marked by charm and lively conversation. A devoted bibliophile, Locker-Lampson amassed a significant collection of rare books and created a unique reading room that symbolized his passion for literature. Although he may not have produced a vast amount of written work, his legacy lies in his appreciation for literature and the literary community he cultivated.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Frederick Locker-Lampson
Poet
- Born: May 29, 1821
- Birthplace: Greenwich, England
- Died: May 30, 1895
Biography
Frederick Hawke Locker (who added Lampson to his surname in 1885) was born on May 29, 1821, in Greenwich, England, to watercolorist and naval hospital administrator Edward Hawke Locker and mother Eleanor Locker. Locker-Lampson respected and was influenced by art and literature early in his life. His grandfather was, as poet Ben Jonson described him, “a man eminent for curiosity and literature.” His father, a fine artist, knew such esteemed authors as Sir Walter Scott and Robert Southey, with whom he would dine, bringing young Locker-Lampson along. Locker-Lampson was a sickly child, suffering with digestive problems and meloncholia, and he had a difficult time dealing with school bullies and the extreme Evangelism of his mother. He was in and out of a number of schools and was, by age sixteen, equally unfit for work. He was first apprenticed to a London firm who turned him away when they realized he had no aptitude for business.
Locker-Lampson toured the Continent for two years. When he was twenty, Lord Minto helped him get a position as a temporary civil service clerk, and he later was transferred to the Admiralty in Whitehall. There Locker-Lampson proved equally mediocre, only reaching second-class rank as a clerk who would be pensioned out a few years later. Locker-Lampson took a leave of absence from his job in 1849 and traveled to Paris, where he met the daughter of the seventh earl of Elgin, Lady Charlotte Bruce. The two married the following year, on July 4, 1850, and had a daughter, Eleanor.
After retiring from his civil-service job, Locker-Lampson, who had written poetry since he was a child, continued to write verse. His biographer, Norman Page, defines his poetry as “elegant, urbane, technically accomplished light verse in the tradition of Thomas Hood and W. M. Praed.” This vers de société impressed the fashionable and politically engaged with whom Locker-Lampson associated in London. His associates also appreciated Locker-Lampson’s conversational aptitude and charm, as well as the sharp wit of his wife. Locker-Lampson was friends with such distinguished authors as Thomas Carlyle; Charles Dickens; William Makepeace Thackeray; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Anthony Trollope; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; John Ruskin; William Morris; Matthew Arnold; George Eliot; and Algernon Charles Swinburne. In his humble yet charming manner, he would purchase their works, ask each to autograph the selection, have the volumes leather-bound, and present them to his daughter, whom he wanted to believe that these distinguished authors had actually chosen the early editions from their own collections just for her, according to biographer Page.
Locker-Lampson produced a modest amount of work, including his autobiography, and Patchwork (1879), a collection of musings, memoirs, and clippings. He believed London Lyrics, published in 1857, was the first anthology of light verse. According to Page, Locker-Lampson believed the poetry contained in this volume was verse that “flourished in a sophisticated society where the leisure and amenities of gracious living and a sense of security permitted its flowering.” In 1872, Locker’s wife died; he married Hannah Jane Lampson in 1874, and the couple later had two sons and two daughters.
Locker-Lampson was a bibliophile who collected rare books, drawings, and etchings. His home contained a specially built brick and tile room with fireplace shelves and a small barred window, as well as a Locker-Lampson designed candle with uniquely crafted flanges that allowed someone in the dim room to be able to read without holding the candle. The room, memorialized in a Lord Crewe poem, was “the Mecca of a bookman’s dreams.” Locker-Lampson may not have produced as many works as the writers with whom he associated or collected, but his 930- volume library and reading room produced something just as valuable: an appreciation for reading. “It is a good thing to read books,” wrote Locker-Lampson, “and it need not be a bad thing to write them; but it is a pious thing to preserve those that have been sometime written.” Association, then, at many levels, was for him enough.