Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Man, Henry
MAN, HENRY (1747–1799), author, born in 1747 in the city of London, where his father was a well-known builder, was educated at Croydon under the Rev. John Lamb, and distinguished himself as a scholar. At the age of fifteen he left school and became a clerk in a mercantile house in the city. In 1770 he published a small volume called 'The Trifler,' containing essays of a slight character. In 1774 he contributed to Woodfall's 'Morning Chronicle' a series of letters on education. The following year he published a novel bearing the title of 'Bentley, or the Rural Philosopher.' In 1775 he retired from business for a time, but after his marriage in 1776 he obtained a situation in the South Sea House, and the same year was elected deputy secretary of that establishment. Here he was the colleague of Charles Lamb, who pays a tribute to his wit and genial qualities in his essay on the South Sea House (Lamb, Essays, ed. by Ainger, London, 1883, p. 8). He had published a dramatic satire called 'Cloacina' in 1775, and he continued to write essays and letters for the 'Morning Chronicle' and the 'London Gazette' till his death on 5 Dec. 1799. In 1802 his collected works were published in two volumes, consisting of essays, letters, poems, and other trifles. Man's daughter, Emma Claudiana, died at Sevenoaks on 14 Aug. 1858.
[Collected Works of Henry Man, with Memoir, London, 1802; Gent. Mag. 1799 ii. 1092, 1858 ii. 536.]