Barham, Richard Harris

BARHAM, RICHARD HARRIS: Church of England; b. at Canterbury Dec. 6, 1788; d. in London June 17, 1845. He studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, took orders in 1813, and in 1817 became curate of Snargate, Kent. In 1821 he removed to London as minor canon of St. Paul’s and thenceforth resided in London, where he held different livings and positions. He was esteemed for his exemplary life, and his sound sense and kind heart made him a good counselor and valued friend. His fame rests upon the Ingoldsby Legends, written under the pseudonym “Thomas Ingoldsby" for Bentley’s Miscellany and The New Monthly Magazine, collected in book form 1840; a second series was published in 1847 and a third, edited by the author’s son, the same year (many later editions). In this work Barham proved the possession of humorous powers of a high order and produced what is perhaps the best collection of rimed mirth in the English tongue; his extraordinary command of language appears also in passages of much lyric beauty; and the satire of theological and church tendencies which have not yet passed away give the work more serious value than that of merely promoting amusement.

Bibliography: Life and Letters of the Rev. R. H. Barham with a Selection from his Miscellaneous Poems, edited by his son, R. H. D. Barham, 2 vols., London. 1880.