Hammond, James

(1710-1742)

   The son of Anthony Hammond of Somersham Place, Huntingdonshire, who, according to Samuel Johnson was "a man of note among the wits, poets, and parliamentary orators in the beginning of this century." James was educated at Westminster School but had no university education. He became a member of the clique that gathered around Frederick, Prince of Wales (father of George III) and in 1733 was made one of the equerries to the prince. His term of office as member of Parliament for Truro, Cornwall, in 1741 was short-lived. He died at Stowe in Buckinghamshire. He wrote fifteen love elegies, and of these, Johnson says, "He produces nothing but frigid pedantry. It would be hard to find in all his productions three stanzas that deserve to be remembered." Some of his poems: "Against Lovers Going to War," "An Elegy to a Young Lady," "He despairs that he shall ever possess Delia," "On Delia's Being in the Country," "On his Falling in Love with Neæra," "Prologue to Lillo's Elmerick," "Sonnet 57: Written in Netley Abbey, Near Southampton."

   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). Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets, 1779-1781 (http://www2.hn.psu.edu/Faculty/KKemmerer/poets/preface.htm). 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 Poetical Works of James Hammond. Glasgow University, 1787.