CROYDON CHRONICLES: A Restoration period writer who taught at the Free School made friends with ‘literary lords’ and the Poet Laureate.
DAVID MORGAN looks back nearly 400 years to the life and work of John Oldham
Poetry performances – spoken word – are increasingly popular these days thanks to artists like The Civilised Savage, who appeared at The Croydonites Fringe and was a guest on the latest Croydon Insider podcast. Poetry slams are the places to be.
Looking through the archives, the poets who were the most well-known in the past have usually relied on the written word, crafting their verses for others to read and interpret and to enjoy and revisit.
Restoration poet: John Oldham’s work became well-known when he was teaching in Croydon
Poets have rarely, if ever, made enough money to live on. They need to have a job which helped to put money in their pocket but still left time for them to write. Either that or have a rich patron who would provide an income.
John Oldham was in that predicament. It was time spent in Croydon, doing a job which he described as a “drudgery”, which allowed him to hone his craft.
Born on August 9, 1653, in Shipton in Gloucestershire, Oldham was the son of a non-conformist minister. This was at the time that Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians had overthrown the king in a civil war.
Oldham attended Tedbury School before gaining a place at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he studied Greek and Latin, showing a mastery of those languages. It was also where he developed his love of poetry.
He immersed himself in reading classical verse, translating and imitating their rhythmic patterns in his own compositions.
After university, Oldham went back to Gloucestershire, leading a rather aimless existence. He continued to write, but realised that he needed an income.
In 1675, when aged 22, he found employment in Croydon. He was appointed as an usher at the Croydon Free School (known today as Whitgift School). An usher was an unqualified teacher who would take some of the younger classes and who would supervise homework and prep sessions.
The stipend he received was not very substantial, however, but it did give him independence from his family. His work was “monotonous and oppressive”, according to one writer.
But Oldham was thrilled at the prospect of living close to London, with everything that the city might have to offer, in that Restoration period after the return to the throne of King Charles II.
Literary lord: Rochester came calling to Croydon in search of John Oldham
Once settled in to his new life at the school, Oldham discovered that he had less time for writing poetry than he had hoped. Supervising pupils out of class took up much more time than he had realised.
Some of the poetry he did manage to write found its way into London coffee shops and literary groups. Oldham’s writing caused a great deal of interest.
One day, the Free School’s headmaster, John Shepheard, who was relatively new to the role, was surprised to receive a calling card from Lord Rochester. His lordship arrived in Croydon accompanied by friends Lord Sedley and Lord Dorset. Andrew Marvell, the poet, satirist and politician, had described the three lords, courtier poets, as “The Merry Gang”.
Not unreasonably, Shepheard assumed that the nobles had come to see him, or tour the school. Receiving his guests in a most gracious manner, Shepheard began to address the visitors with some remarks about how honoured he was to receive them.
When the headmaster paused for breath, Lord Dorset intervened. They had not come not to see him, he said, but ione of his ushers. John Oldham was the subject of their visit.
Shepheard, embarrassed, sent for the young usher.
One commentator reflected that the whole scenario, beginning with the lords’ arrival in the headmaster’s study, was like one of Thomas Shadwell’s comedies (Shadwell was Poet Laureate from 1689 until 1692).
Nothing came of Oldham’s meeting with the literary lords. It was his first experience of courtiers and patronage, and his way of speaking with them was probably naïve.
Oldham went back to the classroom and, as he saw it, the thankless task of educating disinterested pupils and getting paid very little to do it.
One of his poems, A Satire addressed to a Friend, was based on his own experiences.
But who would be to the vile drudgery bound
Where so small encouragement is found?
Where for the recompense of all your pains
Shall hardly reach a common fiddler’s gains?
For when you’ve toiled and laboured all you can
To dung and cultivate a barren brain
A dancing master shall be better paid
Though he instructs the beds and not the head.
Oldham was certainly fed up!
The only pleasurable time during his day was when he could write his poetry. Just as musicians have tunes and chords popping into their thoughts, so poets have words and phrases bubbling to the surface of their consciousness.
Will’s Coffee House: this is where Oldham rubbed shoulders with some of the literary giants of Restoration London, including Dryden and Pope
Making verses is what he loved to do and even when he was saying his prayers, he could scarcely refrain from turning them into rhymes.
Oldham spent three years at the school before, in 1678, being appointed as the tutor to two grandsons of Sir Edward Thurland, a judge who lived in Reigate.
Oldham got the job through a barrister friend, Harman Atwood. When Atwood died shortly after, Oldham lamented him in an elaborately written ode.
“No, I’ll no more repine at Destiny
Now we poor common Mortals are content to die.
When thee, blest Saint, we cold and breathless see.
Thee who if ought that’s great and brave,
Ought that is excellent might save
Had’st justly claim’d exemption from the grave
And cancell’d the black irreversible Decree.”
Oldham taught the Thurland grandsons for two years before he moved on. This time he was employed by Sir William Hicks, once again as a tutor.
It was while Oldham was working for Hicks that he met Dr Richard Lower, a physician and medical writer. Lower was a revered figure in the medical world as someone who experimented with blood transfusions. Oldham was fascinated by this work and for a while devoted his spare time to the study of medicine, rather than writing poetry.
Prominent friend: John Dryden
When he left Hicks’ employ, he settled in London, renewing his acquaintance with Rochester, Sedley and their literary group. He became a close friend of John Dryden, one of the leading poets of the day, and was described as one of the “wits” of Will’s Coffee House, in Covent Garden.
Will’s Coffee House is mentioned by Samuel Pepys when the diarist first dropped in there in February 1663. He enjoyed the experience. “It will be good coming thither, for there, I perceive, is very witty and pleasant discourse.”
The Earl of Kingston became Oldham’s patron, but the partnership was curtailed by Oldham’s sickness. In Autumn 1683, Oldham caught smallpox and never recovered. He died on December 9 at Kingston’s country seat at Holme Pierrepont Hall, Nottinghamshire. John Oldham was 30 years old.
Oldham was buried in the Earl’s local parish church, St Edmunds. A memorial was erected for the young poet and Kingston was the chief mourner at the funeral.
The Poet Laureate of the day, John Dryden, wrote an elegy dedicated to his Oldham’s memory.
To the Memory of Mr Oldham began:
Farewell, too little, and too lately known,
Who I began to think and call my own:
For sure our souls were near allied, and thine
Cast in the same poetic mode as mine.
One common note on either lyre did strike
And knaves and fools we both abhorred alike.
Ornate memorial: Oldham’s patron, the Earl of Kingston, made sure the poet was remembered
Oldham’s satirical verse was seen by some as being a bit rough and ready. Perhaps he never had the time to polish as he might have liked.
Oldham imitated the satires of the Roman writer, Juvenal; Oldham’s writing had a “rugged style”, according to one contemporary critic.
Two poems which he was best known for were A Satire against Virtue, written in 1679 and A Satire Upon a Woman who by her Falsehood and Scorn was the Death of my Friend, written a year earlier.
Oldham’s time in Croydon may not have provided him with all the time he wanted to write, but it was vital in him discovering his voice and getting it heard by a wider audience.
Listen to David Morgan discuss one of his recent Chronicle discoveries, the untimely death of John Munro, in our latest edition of The Croydon Insider, our non-iconic round-table news panel discussion thingy – premium content which – for this episode – is free to access for all our readers. Just click here, and if you want to support our journalism, sign up as a paying subscriber today
- David Morgan has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- How sci-fi author John Munro died as a hermit in Croydon
- Pioneer of sociology whose book called for an evolution
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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