Charles Ollier The Publisher & His Family
All names are in bold for ease of reference.
I would like to express my thanks to Professor Charles E Robinson, Professor of English at The University of Delaware for his assistance in helping me in my research. Professor Robinson is a leading authority on the works of Charles Ollier & other literary works of that period.
Charles Ollier, publisher, writer & editor, was born in 1788 at Bath, he was the second of five children of Charles Ollier & Sarah Tuttell, Charles & Sarah were haberdashers at Bath. His other siblings were Joseph, William, Henry & James. Charles left Bath when he was a boy of fourteen to become a junior clerk at a banking house in London, by 1810 he was employed by Coutts Bank in the City. During these early years in London, he took a keen interest in things literary, theatrical & musical, he soon became a good friend of Leigh Hunt, Charles Cowden Clark and the Gattie brothers including Henry & John Thomas Byng. In 1814 while living at Marylebone, Charles married Maria Gattie, they had six children, Lucy, Frances, Clara Elizabeth Maria, Francis Allen, Charles, William & Edmund. His youngest daughter, Lucy Frances, died at a young age, this was to trouble him greatly, Francis Allen died in 1872 having spent most of his life in a mental institution at Warnford in Oxfordshire, Clara Elizabeth Maria became a musical governess, and remained a spinster all her life, Charles was to marry Mary Ellen Denker stepdaughter of George Ovitts Lacon and formed the theatrical booking agency of Lacon & Ollier in London, both Lacon & Ollier had previously worked at Richard Hebers Library also in London.William remained a batchelor he was a journalist, Edmund married Emily Jane Durrell, and was a writer and historian of some note.
Despite a life long respiratory condition, Charles was an accomplished flautist, playing at various musical evenings of Novello & Hunt. Between 1817 and 1823 Charles was in business with his younger brother James as publisher, bookseller & stationer and owner of a circulating library at Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square and later at Vere Street, Bond Street. It was during this period that he published for Keats, Lamb, Hazlett, Leigh Hunt, Shelley & others, Charles published almost all of Shelly's works. He was also very active in the Paddington vestry and was elected overseer of the poor for the parish of Paddington. Charles went bankrupt in 1823 and sold off everything except some of his stationary which he continued to sell from his house at Maida Hill, Paddington. He was later to become a publisher again and his brother James still continued as a bookseller at Welbeck Street. Eventually Charles suffered financial problems again as his second child Francis Allen who was in a mental institution needed looking after constantly, this coupled with his ever increasing respiratory illness led to his death, he died at his home at 6 Bute Street, Old Brompton, London in 1859 and was buried at Brompton Cemetery. He was immortalized by a tribute to him which appeard in The Spectator Magazine on the 18th June of that same year written by his long time friend Leigh Hunt.
Little is known of James in his later years, he died walking across the Isthmus of Darien in the early 1850's [See below] Charles Ollier's contribution to the literary world of that period is noted as significant, he was a hoarder of things, many of his letters & manuscripts survive to this day in numerous archives and collections. Edmund his son, wrote many articles and books and was a prolific journalist as mentioned before. In 1867 he recieved from King Victor Emanuel the cross of the order of Saint Maurice & Saint Lazarus in recognition of his literary advocacy of the cause of Italian independance, Edmund died at his home at 154 Oakley Street, Chelsea, London in 1886.
James's death still remains a bit of a mystery, it is uncertain as to exactly when he died but there are three interesting clues, the first one is from the Panama Star, a newspaper, that was printed in Panama City which is on the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Darien (Panama) An entry for December 1851 reads thus:
1) Panama Star, Panama City, Panama December 7th, 1851. Deceased Americans. The following named persons (American citizens)) have died in this Consular District, with a few exceptions which are noted, since Mr. Corwine, the present incumbent, has been in office, commencing January, 1850. Of this number, only four were residents of Panama. There are, doubtless, a few others who have died here, and those deaths have never been reported to the Consulate. The list comprises those who died in the harbor on board the steamship Panama in August 1850 of cholera, as well as those who were landed from that vessel in a precarious state some 16 in all.
Within the printed list of the deceased is the following:
Ollier, James U. -- Boston.
2) The following is an extract from a letter that Charles Ollier wrote to his friend Leigh Hunt on November 26th 1853 from his home at Bute Street, Old Brompton.
"My brother James perished in a foolish attempt to walk across the deadly Isthmus of Darien, but my mother died of asthma; so did my elder brother, and so did the brother two years younger than I, I am the last. Am I too going into the dark?"
3) The following is an extract from a letter written by G.P.R. James who was living at Stockbridge, Massachusetts when it was written to Charles Ollier, the letter is dated 16th February 1852:
"Your poor brother James! I grieve seriously for his sad fate. I had hoped to meet with him in America and asked for him at Boston but could hear nothing of him. Little did I think that he was wandering afar in that fatal climate of the Isthmus."
It should be noted that "U" shown as James's middle initial is probably the letter "H" the newspaper details were taken from a transcripted source.
It can be seen that the above three references to James reinforce each other and help to narrow down the time & place of his death, it appearing to be sometime between January 1850 and December 1851. The report in The Panama Star might sound slightly confusing as to wether James died on the SS Panama or on the isthmus itself, the report names 97 individuals that had died, therefore we must asume that this included the 16 who died on board the SS Panama. His brothers letter states that he died crossing the isthmus. If he died onboard the SS Panama then he must have been en route from San Francisco down to Panama City as research has shown that the outbreak of cholera on that ship had started when the ship had berthed at Acapulco en route to Panama from San Francisco around the 16th of August 1850 when some of the passengers ate contaminated fruit, further research shows that the ship had been fully cleaned by the 30th of August at Panama City. Another newspaper reports that the ship was carrying almost $2,500,000 of gold dust on that trip, a product of the Calafornia Gold Rush!
Crossing the Isthmus was the prime route for the many that were making their way or returning from the Californian Gold Feilds, from East to West it was normally a sea voyage from New York, Boston or New Orleans to the mouth of the Chagres River, then by another sailing as far up the Chagres as the river would permit, the rest of the journey to Panama City being an overland one, either by mule or by foot or both. Upon arriving at Panama City it was another sea voyage up to San Fransisco. The other but less popular route was a sea voyage all the way down and around Cape Horn then following the coast up to California. It is not yet clear why James was there we can only guess, the perils and dangers of the Isthmus were well known at that time.
Note: Refering to (2) above, his brother two years younger than him was William, William's will was proved just five days before Charles wrote the above letter, his elder brother Joseph died sometime between 26th of January 1833 & 24th of June 1834 according to the details from his will, the exact date is not known. He was present at a Coroner's Inquest reported on the 23rd January 1830 in The Times Newspaper, his address was given as No. 5 Charles Street, Westminster other periodical gleanings place him at Delahay Street in the same parish. Joseph was the Parish Surgeon for St. Ann's Westminster. He was appointed to the position of Surgeon at the Western Dispensary, Charles Street, Westminster on or around the 27th August 1817, on the 29th he placed an advert in The Times Newspaper thanking the President, Vice President & Govenors for his appointment, his address was given as 1a Great Smith Street. His presence was also recorded in the Times on the 26th November 1829, again at a Coroners Inquest. The last known record of him was at another Inquest which was printed in The Times on the 25th January 1833, his address being given as Delahey Street Westminster, Delahay Street & Charles Street are addresses which are both mentioned in Joseph's Will.
Note: the two extracts given above are courtesy of Professor C. Robinson, University of Delaware.
The Ancestors of Charles Ollier - Author & Publisher of London
The Ancestors of Richard Ollyer (Ollier) - Brewer of Holborn London