Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stocqueler, Joachim Hayward
STOCQUELER, JOACHIM HAYWARD (1800–1885), compiler, the son of Joachim Christian Stocqueler, an insurance broker of Hatton Garden, who was of Portuguese extraction, by his wife Elizabeth, second daughter of Dr. Francis Hayward of Hackney, was born in London in the year 1800.
About 1821 he sailed for Calcutta, and spent the next twenty years in India. There, in addition to writing a guide to the overland route, Stocqueler did much journalistic work, editing, among other papers, the ‘Bengal Monthly Sporting Magazine,’ the ‘East Indian United Service Journal’ (1833), the ‘Indian Racing Calendar’ (1838), the ‘Calcutta Englishman’ and the ‘English Gentleman.’ He also compiled several works of at least temporary value, including ‘Fifteen Months' Pilgrimage through Khuzistan and Persia’ (2 vols. London, 1832), ‘The Wellington Manual’ (extracted from the Despatches, Calcutta, 1840), and ‘Memorials of Affghanistan’ (illustrative of the British expedition, 1838–42, Calcutta, 1843). He returned to England in 1843 in order to find a wider market for his Indian experience, and, in addition to lecturing on Indian subjects, established an East Indian institute and a general inquiry office. During 1855–6 he lectured on the Crimean war with a diorama. Shortly after this he left London in debt, and was employed throughout the American war as a newspaper correspondent. Returning to England, he lived to a ripe old age, and died at Brighton in 1885. A book professing to be his ‘autobiography’ was printed in India about 1873, but was suppressed.
Besides the works mentioned, he wrote: 1. ‘Handbook of India,’ London, 1844. 2. ‘The Oriental Interpreter, and Treasury of East India Knowledge,’ London, 1848. 3. ‘Alfred the Great: a romance,’ 1849. 4. ‘The British Officer: his Position, Duties, Emoluments,’ London, 1851. 5. ‘Life of the Duke of Wellington,’ 2 vols. London, 1852–3. 6. ‘The Military Encyclopædia,’ London, 1853. 7. ‘The Old Field Officer, or the Military and Sporting Adventures of Major Worthington’ (pseudonym), 1853. 8. ‘India: its History, Climate, Productions, and Field Sports,’ London, 1853. In a later edition (1857) this was carried down to the mutiny. 9. ‘Memoirs and Correspondence of Major-General Sir William Nott,’ 2 vols. London, 1854. 10. ‘A Familiar History of British India,’ London, 1859; another edition, ‘brought down to 1865 by J. H. Siddons’ (pseudonym), was published in 1865. 11. ‘A Familiar History of the United States’ (under the above pseudonym), London, 1865. 12. ‘A Familiar History of the British Army from 1660,’ London, 1871. 13. ‘A Personal History of the Horse Guards from 1750,’ London, 1873. 14. ‘The Shakespearean Referee: a Cyclopædia of 4,200 Words occurring in the Plays of Shakespeare,’ Washington, 1886. Two farces also appeared in his name, ‘Polkamania’ and ‘An Object of Interest’ (Lacy's edition, vol. xvi.).
[Notes and Queries, 8th ser. xi. 267, 315; details kindly furnished by H. J. Hunter, esq., of Bath; Allibone's Dict. of English Literature; Brit. Mus. Cat.]