Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings Charles

(1810-1888)

   Yorkshire born, he belonged to a military family which produced several distinguished officers. Educated at Eton College under John Keate, he graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1832, then became a lawyer and was called to the bar in 1837. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1839. He became the assistant-solicitor of the excise in 1845, receivergeneral of customs from 1846 to 1869, then commissioner of customs until 1883. He was fellow of All Souls, Oxford, and followed Matthew Arnold as professor of poetry at Oxford from 1867 to 1877. His poetry uses the ballad form to describe modern events, particularly deeds of bravery. Some of his publications: Miscellaneous Verses, 1834, second edition with additions, 1840. The Two Destinies, 1844. Oedipus, King of Thebes, 1849. The Duke's Funeral, 1852. The Return of the Guards and Other Poems, 1866. Robin Hood's Bay: An Ode addressed to the English People, 1878. Some of his poems: "Mehrab Khan," "Private of the Buffs, or, The British Soldier in China," "The Catholic," "The Crusader's Return," "The Death of Hector," "The Loss of the Birkenhead," "The Old Cavalier," "The Red Thread of Honor."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www. lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). 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. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).