John Feltham

John Feltham (1770-1803) was originally from Salisbury, the son of John Feltham, Sr., and the brother of Thomas Hall Feltham, a clockmaker (Universal British Directory [1791], vol. 4, p. 560).  By the mid-1780s he was living in Honiton, working for Richard Northcote, a draper, as well as assisting in the management of the Northcote property at Higher Blanicombe. He first attracted attention as a contributing writer to the Gentleman’s Magazine between 1786 and 1802, gaining recognition as “an antiquary of some ability,” according to Devon historian A. Farquharson (8). Feltham also contributed poems to Richard Polwhele’s Poems chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall (2 vols., 1792). After Northcote’s death in 1796, Feltham continued to manage the business affairs of Mrs. Northcote for a time, then removed to Salisbury, where he contributed a number of short essays under the nom de plume “Eugenius” for the Salisbury newspaper that year (Tour through the Island of Mann, 171).  In 1797-98, Feltham began to establish himself as a travel writer as well as antiquarian, publishing A Tour through the Island of Mann [sic], in 1797 and 1798; Comprising Sketches of its Ancient and Modern History, Constitution, Laws, Commerce, Agriculture, Fishery, &c. (1798), and later, A Guide to all the Watering and Sea-bathing Places; with a Description of the Lakes; a Sketch of a Tour in Wales; and Itineraries.  Illustrated with Maps and Views (1803).  He also composed at this time Memorials of “God’s Acre,” being Monumental Inscriptions in the Isle of Man, taken in the Summer of 1797 (not published until 1868).  Seeking a greater avenue for his literary abilities, Feltham settled in London in 1799 and began publishing his annual guide book, The Picture of London … being a Correct Guide to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects, in and near London … For the use of Strangers, Foreigners, and all Persons who are not Intimately Acquainted with the British Metropolis.  In 1796, his sister, Ann Feltham (d. 1847), married Benjamin Hawes (1770-1860), a successful London soap boiler and son of Dr. William Hawes, founder of the Humane Society. Feltham died in 1803; an obituary notice of his wife, which appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1815, reads: “At Sidmouth, Mrs. S. Feltham, widow of J. Feltham, esq. late of Hinton, St. George” (Part I, 187). Also, a charity designed for the poor of East Quantoxhead, Somerset, Feltham’s native county, received a gift of £100 in 1816 from Feltham’s estate (Dunning 5.129).  Besides his travel writing and guide books, Feltham authored two other works: The English Enchiridion; being a Selection of Apothegms, Moral Maxims, &c. (1799), and A Popular View of the Structure and Economy of the Human Body, etc. (1803). See also Will of John Feltham, Gentleman of Brewer Street Golden Square, Middlesex, 9 December 1803, PROB 11/1402/105, Public Record Office, Kew. For letters to Feltham from his fiancé, Eliza Gould (1770-1810) in 1794-99, see Timothy Whelan, Politics, Religion, and Romance: The Letters of Benjamin Flower and Eliza Gould Flower, 1794-1808 (Aberystwyth: The National Library of Wales, 2008).  See also A. Farquharson,  The History of Honiton (Exeter:  A. Farquharson, 1868); R. W. Dunning, ed., A History of the County of Somerset,  7 vols.  (London:  Institute of Historical Research, 1985).