Francis Hare-Naylor (1753–1815) was an English historian, novelist and playwright. He eloped with the painter

Georgiana Hare-Naylor Georgiana Hare-Naylor born Georgiana Shipley (circa 1755–1806) was an English painter and art patron. Life Georgiana was born at St Asaph in 1752, the fourth daughter of Anna Maria, born Mordaunt, and Jonathan Shipley, then a canon of Christ ...

and they had most of their children abroad. They returned to

Herstmonceux Herstmonceux ( , ; ) is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, which includes Herstmonceux Castle. The Herstmonceux Medieval Festival is held annually in August. History The name comes from Anglo-Saxon ...

when his father died. Georgiana died in Lausanne and Hare-Naylor sold

and never returned.

Early life

He was the eldest son of Robert Hare-Naylor of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, canon of Winchester (son of Francis Hare), by his first wife, Sarah, daughter of Lister Selman of

Chalfont St Peter Chalfont St Peter is a large village and civil parish in southeastern Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts which also includes Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont. The villages lie between High Wycombe a ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. Sarah died when Francis was a child. The raconteur Augustus John Cuthbert Hare attributes the loss of his kinswoman to: :a chill brought on by eating too many ices when over-heated by dancing at Sir John Shaw's, at Eltham, leaving to the Hares a diamond necklace, valued at 30 000, and three children, Francis, Robert, and Anna Maria. His father took as his second wife another heiress, Henrietta Henckell. She persuaded her husband into demolitions of Herstmonceaux Castle, for the construction of a house to be settled on her own children. Francis Hare-Naylor had a legacy from his mother, and lived almost entirely in London. There he formed a friendship with Charles James Fox, and became one of the circle around Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire at

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

. She introduced him to her cousin

Georgiana Shipley Georgiana Hare-Naylor born Georgiana Shipley (circa 1755–1806) was an English painter and art patron. Life Georgiana was born at St Asaph in 1752, the fourth daughter of Anna Maria, born Mordaunt, and Jonathan Shipley, then a canon of Christ ...

, fourth daughter of

Jonathan Shipley Jonathan Shipley (1714 – 6 December 1788) was a clergyman who held offices in the Church of England (including Dean of Winchester from 1760 to 1769), who became Bishop of Llandaff from January to September 1769 and Bishop of St Asaph from Sept ...

, who had learned painting in

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

's studio. Her eldest sister Anna Maria was the wife of

Sir William Jones Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of th ...

Marriage

Bishop Shipley invited Hare-Naylor to Twyford, but the following day he was arrested for debt while driving in the episcopal coach with Georgiana and her parents. He was then forbidden the house. The Duchess of Devonshire gave the pair an annuity of £200 a year, and on this they married. They went to Karlsruhe, and then to the north of Italy. In 1797 Hare's father died, and it was found that his second wife had built her new house of Herstmonceaux Place on entailed land. The Hare-Naylors set off for England, leaving three of their children in the care of Prof.

Clotilda Tambroni Clotilde Tambroni (29 June 1758 – 2 June 1817), was an Italian philologist, linguist and poet. She was a professor in the Greek language at the University of Bologna in 1793–1798, and a professor in Greek and literature in 1800–1808.G. Melz ...

and a Spanish priest, and appointing Polyglot Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti tutor of their precocious eldest son. The Hare-Naylors settled at Herstmonceaux. Hare-Naylor's democratic principles made enemies, and he rejected a baronetcy. From 1799, when the Hare-Naylors fetched home their children, life became a financial struggle, requiring support from the now-widowed Lady Jones.

Later life

In 1803 Georgiana Hare-Naylor completing pictures recording Herstmonceaux Castle as it appeared before the demolitions, but then lost her sight. In the following year the Hare-Naylors went to live in Weimar, where the reigning duchess was on good terms with the family. On Easter Sunday, 1806, Georgiana Hare-Naylor died at Lausanne, leaving her children to the care of Lady Jones (her eldest sister). After his wife's death Hare-Naylor never returned to Herstmonceaux, and in 1807 he sold the estate. In April 1815 he died, after a lingering illness, at Tours, and was buried beneath the altar of Herstmonceaux Church.

Works

Hare-Naylor wrote unperformed plays, ''The Mirror'' and ''The Age of Chivalry'', which were rejected at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

. In 1801 he published his ''History of the Helvetic Republics'' (i.e. Switzerland, two volumes, second enlarged edition 4 volumes 1809). While at Weimar, Hare-Naylor published a novel, ''Theodore, or the Enthusiast'', for which

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...

, whose sister

Maria Flaxman Maria Flaxman (1768–1833) was an English painter and illustrator. Life Maria, also noted as Mary Ann or Maria T Flaxman, was the half-sister of John Flaxman, she was influenced by his work and assisted him in the last years of his life. Maria ...

was his children's governess, made a series of illustrations. In 1816 Hare-Naylor's best-known work, a ''Civil and Military History of Germany, from the landing of Gustavus to the Treaty of Westphalia'',' was published.

Family

A memorial to his wife on her deathbed, entrusting the care of their daughter to Lady Jones The four sons of Francis with Georgiana Hare-Naylor, Francis, Augustus,

Julius The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...

, and Marcus, were born in Italy, and a daughter, Anna Maria Clementina. In 1807 he married again a relation of his first wife, by whom he became the father of two sons and a daughter, who was the second wife of Frederick Denison Maurice.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hare-Naylor, Francis 1753 births 1815 deaths 19th-century English historians People from Herstmonceux