Dobson, Henry Austin

(1840-1921)

   Born at Plymouth, Devon, the son of a civil engineer, he had a mixed education - Beaumaris grammar school, North Wales, at Coventry, at Strasbourg, and then in France. He worked for the Board of Trade from 1856 to 1901 and was awarded a civil list pension in 1904. In addition to his many poems he wrote several non-fiction books, biographies and memoirs and a series of Eighteenth Century Vignettes (1892-1894-1896). In all, he edited more than fifty volumes. Although not a great poet, his poems are delightful and easy to read. He published a 300 page bibliography of his works before he retired, which makes clear that his mind was principally applied to literature. He died at Ealing, London.

   Some of his publications: A City Flower, 1864. Incognita, 1866. Une Marquise, 1868. The Story of Rosina, 1869. Vignettes in Rhyme, 1873. The Civil Service Handbook of English Literature, 1874. Proverbs in Porcelain, 1877. A Paladin of Philanthrop, 1899 and 1901. Some of his poems: "A Garden Song," "In After Days," "On the Future of Poetry," "The Cradle," "The Ladies of St. James's," "With Pipe and Flute."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.