Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Richard Harris Barham
Richard Harris Barham,
The famous author of the "Ingoldsby Legends," was born at Canterbury, Dec. 6, 1788. He was educated at S. Paul's School, and Brasenose College. Though intended for the Bar, he took Orders in 1813, and four years later became Vicar of Snargate, in his native county. In 1821 he obtained a minor canonry in S. Paul's Cathedral, with the living, in 1824, of S. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, which living he exchanged in 1842 for that of S. Faith's, also in the City. Simultaneously he held the appointment of Divinity Lecturer at S. Paul's. His health, however, about the same time became affected, and, having taken cold at the opening of the Royal Exchange in 1844, he died the following year on the 17th June, and was buried in the Rector's Vault at S. Gregory's Church. He married Caroline, daughter of Captain Smart, of the Royal Engineers, and had two daughters and a son.
Mr. Barham owes his public reputation almost entirely to the success of his "Ingoldsby Legends," a series of humorous and farcical stories in verse, too well-known to need description. These compositions first saw the light in the pages of "Bentley's Magazine," the proprietor of which was an old friend and schoolfellow. The series began with "The Spectre of Tappington"—Tappington Everard being the seat of the Barham family, and most of the earlier legends had their source in the same locality. The later ones were derived chiefly either from the "Acta Sanctorum," or were pure invention. The "Legends" were published collectively in 1840, and a second and third series were added in 1847, under the editorship of the author's son. The other writings of Mr. Barham are less known, and are comparatively forgotten. The first was a novel entitled "Baldwin" published in 1819, and the second "My Cousin Nicholas" which, though written long before, first appeared in 1834. At intervals Mr. Barham contributed to "Blackwood" and "John Bull"; and no English writer, probably, unless it be Thomas Hood, was ever so prolific in literature of the kind in which they both excelled.
The life of Mr. Barham has been written by his son, the Rev. R. H. D. Barham, and there are appreciative notices of him in "Bentley's Magazine" (vols. 18 and 21), "Fraser" (vol. 83), "The British Quarterly" (vol. 53), "Leisure Hour" (vol. 11), and "Temple Bar" (vol. 31).
There is a portrait of him in "Bentley's Miscellany," engraved from a drawing by Richard Lane.
[See "Gentleman's Magazine," 1845.]