Edward Augustus Kendall
Encyclopedia
Edward Augustus Kendall, translator, social campaigner and miscellaneous writer, was born about 1776. He died at Pimlico
14 October 1842. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Though Americans remember him for his Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, published in 1809, Kendall’s main claim to fame are his books for children, in which he represented the characters of animals in new ways, giving them a speaking voice. Whilst there were other writers, including Dorothy Kilner
, Sarah Trimmer
, Anna Laetitia Barbauld
and her brother John Aikin
, who made smaller contributions, Kendall played a major and crucial part in shifting the representation of animals in literature from the fabulous, the allegorical and the satirical to the naturalistic and empathetic. His Keeper's Travels in Search of His Master, Crested Wren, and Burford Cottage and its Robin Red Breast, are the natural predecessors of The Water Babies and Wind in the Willows. Employing new narrative techniques for representing thought in fiction, Kendall pioneered writers’ attempts to imagine and describe the experiences of animals.
During 1807 and 1808, Kendall travelled through the northern parts of the United States of America, as a result of which he published his historically important three-volume topographical dictionary Travels through the northern parts of the United States. Following this, Kendall spent a number of years in Canada working for the Hudson’s Bay Company; after which spent time in British India
and the Cape Colony
.
Following his return to England, in 1817 Kendall issued proposals for establishing in London a philanthropic institution to be called The Patriotic Metropolitan Colonial Institution, to assist new settlers to British colonies. He also proposed to form new and distinct colonies for the descendants of mixed raced Anglo Indians, and mixed race West Indians, who early in the nineteenth century were already finding themselves outcast by both the white and ethnic communities. In the same publication, he also proposed the formation of Free Schools of Chemistry and Mathematics, principally to provide a free library for the education of the poor.
In 1819, Kendall started The Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review, which continued until 1828, when it was incorporated into the Athenaeum
. Kendall went on to found The Olio, or Museum of Entertainment, which ran to eleven volumes from 1828-1833.
His Letters to a Friend, 1836, is a vitriolic on Irish Catholicism, in which he assured the Irish that they lived under a vigorous and paternal government. The duty of that government, he insisted, was to repress Roman Catholicism in Ireland as well as in Great Britain.
In 1815, Kendall published a translation of Louis Bonaparte
’s Marie, ou Les peines de l'amour, as Marie, or the Hollanders. The Preface is simply signed E. A. K., but the Longman Divide Ledger 2D, p. 76, tells us that Mr Kendall received the payment of £31. 10. 0. as the Translator.
Towards the end of his life, Kendall wrote The English Boy at the Cape
, one of the first novels to be set in South Africa
.
Pimlico
Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....
14 October 1842. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Though Americans remember him for his Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, published in 1809, Kendall’s main claim to fame are his books for children, in which he represented the characters of animals in new ways, giving them a speaking voice. Whilst there were other writers, including Dorothy Kilner
Dorothy Kilner
Dorothy Kilner was a prolific English writer of children's books during the late 18th century.-Life:...
, Sarah Trimmer
Sarah Trimmer
Sarah Trimmer was a noted writer and critic of British children's literature in the eighteenth century...
, Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author.A "woman of letters" who published in multiple genres, Barbauld had a successful writing career at a time when female professional writers were rare...
and her brother John Aikin
John Aikin
John Aikin was an English doctor and writer.-Life:He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son of Dr. John Aikin, Unitarian divine, and received his elementary education at the Nonconformist academy at Warrington, where his father was a tutor. He studied medicine at the...
, who made smaller contributions, Kendall played a major and crucial part in shifting the representation of animals in literature from the fabulous, the allegorical and the satirical to the naturalistic and empathetic. His Keeper's Travels in Search of His Master, Crested Wren, and Burford Cottage and its Robin Red Breast, are the natural predecessors of The Water Babies and Wind in the Willows. Employing new narrative techniques for representing thought in fiction, Kendall pioneered writers’ attempts to imagine and describe the experiences of animals.
During 1807 and 1808, Kendall travelled through the northern parts of the United States of America, as a result of which he published his historically important three-volume topographical dictionary Travels through the northern parts of the United States. Following this, Kendall spent a number of years in Canada working for the Hudson’s Bay Company; after which spent time in British India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
.
Following his return to England, in 1817 Kendall issued proposals for establishing in London a philanthropic institution to be called The Patriotic Metropolitan Colonial Institution, to assist new settlers to British colonies. He also proposed to form new and distinct colonies for the descendants of mixed raced Anglo Indians, and mixed race West Indians, who early in the nineteenth century were already finding themselves outcast by both the white and ethnic communities. In the same publication, he also proposed the formation of Free Schools of Chemistry and Mathematics, principally to provide a free library for the education of the poor.
In 1819, Kendall started The Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review, which continued until 1828, when it was incorporated into the Athenaeum
Athenaeum
-Educational institutions, museums, libraries:* Melbourne Athenaeum, Melbourne, Australia* Limerick Athenaeum, Limerick, Ireland* Romanian Athenaeum, Bucharest, Romania* Warminster Athenaeum, a theatre in Warminster, Wiltshire, UK* Glasgow Athenaeum, Glasgow, UK...
. Kendall went on to found The Olio, or Museum of Entertainment, which ran to eleven volumes from 1828-1833.
His Letters to a Friend, 1836, is a vitriolic on Irish Catholicism, in which he assured the Irish that they lived under a vigorous and paternal government. The duty of that government, he insisted, was to repress Roman Catholicism in Ireland as well as in Great Britain.
In 1815, Kendall published a translation of Louis Bonaparte
Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
’s Marie, ou Les peines de l'amour, as Marie, or the Hollanders. The Preface is simply signed E. A. K., but the Longman Divide Ledger 2D, p. 76, tells us that Mr Kendall received the payment of £31. 10. 0. as the Translator.
Towards the end of his life, Kendall wrote The English Boy at the Cape
The English Boy at the Cape: An Anglo-African Story
The English Boy at the Cape: An Anglo-African Story is a children's novel by Edward Augustus Kendall, first published in 1835. After writing a number of stories for children, Kendall toured America, worked in Canada, visited the West Indies, British India and the Cape Colony...
, one of the first novels to be set in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Publications
- The Indian Cottage [translated from the French of Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-PierreJacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-PierreJacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a French writer and botanist...
; London, J. Bew, 1791. - Keeper's Travels in Search of His Master; London, E. Newbery, 1798.
- The Sparrow, etc. (A tale); London, E. Newbery, 1798.
- Beauties of Saint Pierre [selected and translated Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-PierreJacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-PierreJacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a French writer and botanist...
’s Studies of Nature]; London, Vernor and Hood, 1799. - The Canary Bird: a moral fiction, interspersed with poetry; London, E. Newbery, 1799.
- The Crested Wren; a tale; London, E. Newbery, 1799.
- The Swallow: a fiction interspersed with poetry; London, E. Newbery, 1800.
- The Stories of Senex; or little histories of little people; London, 1800.
- Lessons of Virtue; or, the Book of Happiness; London, E. Newbery, 1801.
- A Pocket Encyclopædia, or library of general knowledge; being a dictionary of arts, sciences, and polite literature, &c. 6 vol. London, W. Peacock & Sons, 1802.
- Parental Education; or, domestic lessons: a miscellany intended for youth; London, 1803.
- Travels through the northern parts of the United States in 1807 and 1808; 3 vol. New York, I Riley, 1809.
- Maria, or the Hollanders [translated from the French of Louis BonaparteLouis BonaparteLouis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
], 3 vol. London, J. Gillet, Crown-Court, Fleet-Street, H. Colburn, Conduit-Street; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row; 1815. - An argument for construing largely the right of an appelle of murder, to insist on his wager of battle, and also for abrogating writs of appeal; London 1817.
- A proposal for establishing in London a new philanthropical and patriotic institution, to be called, The Patriotic Metropolitan Colonial Institution for the assistance of new Settlers in His Majesty’s Colonies. ... A proposal for establishing new ... Colonies for the relief of the half-casts of India, and mulattoes of the West Indies; and a postscript on the benefits to be derived from establishing Free Drawing Schools, &c. London, 1817.
- The Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review; London, 1819-28.
- Letters to a Friend, on the State of Ireland, the Roman Catholic Question, and the merits of constitutional religious distinctions; London, 1826.
- The Olio, or Museum of Entertainment; London, 1828–1833
- The English Boy at the Cape: An Anglo-African StoryThe English Boy at the Cape: An Anglo-African StoryThe English Boy at the Cape: An Anglo-African Story is a children's novel by Edward Augustus Kendall, first published in 1835. After writing a number of stories for children, Kendall toured America, worked in Canada, visited the West Indies, British India and the Cape Colony...
; 3 vols. London, Whittaker, 1835. - Burford Cottage and its Robin Red Breast; London, 1835.