Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Puseley, Daniel

by George Clement Boase

PUSELEY, DANIEL (1814–1882), author under the pseudonym of Frank Foster, son of Henry Puseley, maltster, was born at Bideford, Devonshire, on 9 Feb. 1814, and was educated at the grammar school in that town. At an early age he obtained a clerkship in a London mercantile house, and was afterwards a commercial traveller. In 1844 he became a hosier and silk merchant in Gutter Lane, city of London.

He was known as a public speaker on political and literary subjects, and as a remarkably good public reader. In 1854 he went to Australia for his health, and after his return published ‘The Rise and Progress of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. By an Englishman,’ 1857; the fourth edition, in 1858, bore his own name. He returned to Australia in 1857. Settling again in England, he devoted himself to literature and to philanthropic undertakings. In 1868 he gave a banquet, the first of its kind, to six hundred ragged-school children, at St. James's Hall, London. In later life he was impoverished by the loss of his savings in foreign stocks. He died at 21 Rochester Road, Camden Town, London, on 18 Jan. 1882, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. He married, on 27 July 1844, Mary Anne, daughter of John Darlington, builder, London, by whom he had four sons: Herbert John, who edited a newspaper at Melbourne, Australia; Berkeley Edward, who was a newspaper correspondent in Cyprus, Egypt, and Afghanistan; Percy Daniel; and Sydney George.

Puseley's chief publications, other than those noticed, were:

1. ‘Harry Mustifer, or a few years on the Road: Miscellaneous Poems,’ anon., 1847.
2. ‘The Saturday Early Closing Movement. By a Warehouseman,’ 1854.
3. ‘The Commercial Companion for the United Kingdom: a Record of eminent Commercial Houses and Men of the Day,’ 1858; 3rd edit. 1860.
4. ‘Five Dramas,’ 1860.
5. ‘Dependence or Independence; or Mental Culture on the part of the Poor as the means of Social and Moral Elevation,’ 1875.
6. ‘New Plays by an Old Author,’ 1876. The preface is signed ‘An Englishman.’

Under the name of Frank Foster he wrote:

7. ‘Number One, or the Way of the World. A Colonial Directory, including Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand,’ vol. i. 1862. No more published in this form; 5th edit. 1865, 3 vols.
8. ‘The Age we Live in, or Doings of the Day,’ 1863; with a portrait of the author.
9. ‘A Journey of Life in Long and Short Stages,’ 1866.
10. ‘An Old Acquaintance,’ 1866.
11. ‘The Belgian Volunteers’ Visit to England in 1867, with a Summary of the Belgian Reception of English Volunteers,’ 1867.
12. ‘Our Premier, or Love and Duty,’ 1867.
13. ‘The Tourist's Assistant, a Popular Guide to Watering Places in England and Wales, with a Railway Key to the Paris Exhibition,’ 1867; 3rd edit. 1868.
14. ‘Who'd be an Author? with the Answer,’ 1869.
15. ‘Faith, Hope, and Charity. By an Old Author,’ 1863; 2nd edit. 1870.
16. ‘All Round the World, or what's the Object?’ 1876, 3 vols.

[Academy, 28 Jan. 1882, p. 63; Athenæum, 28 Jan. 1882, p. 127; information from Mrs. Daniel Puseley.]

G. C. B.