page_title: Life of Samuel Johnson (Hawkins book)
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Life of Samuel Johnson (Hawkins book) / Background
caption_attribution_description: Depicted person: John Hawkins
context_page_description: The Life of Samuel Johnson or Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. was written by John Hawkins in 1787. It was the first full biography of Samuel Johnson—with Thomas Tyers's A Biographical Sketch of Dr Samuel Johnson being the first short postmortem biography. Hawkins was a friend of Johnson, but many in Johnson's circle did not like him. After Johnson's death, Hawkins was approached to produce a biography on Johnson and an edition of his works. His biography described Johnson's life, including previously unknown details about his writing career, but it was plagued by digressions into unrelated topics. Hawkins's Life of Samuel Johnson came under swift attack from critics, from friends of Johnson, and from his literary rival, James Boswell immediately after its publication. Many of the critics attacked Hawkins for his lack of strict focus on Johnson's life or for his unfavourable depiction of Johnson in various circumstances.
context_section_description: According to Bertram Davis, "For every person who remembers Sir John Hawkins as the author of the first full-length biography of Samuel Johnson, many remember him as the man Johnson once described as 'unclubable'." Although "unclubable" reflects Hawkins's relationship with others of Johnson's circle, Johnson and Hawkins had a close friendship as Miss Reynolds describes: "As we were returning from the meadows that day, I remember we met Sir John Hawkins, whom Dr. Johnson seemed much rejoiced to see; and no wonder, for I have often heard him speak of Sir John in terms expressive of great esteem and much cordiality of friendship" Their relationship began around 1739 and they were both involved with The Gentleman's Magazine. In 1749, Hawkins was a member of Johnson's first club: the Ivy Lane club.
  After joining the Ivy Lane club, he married Sidney Storer, heir to a 20,000 pound fortune with Hawkins receiving an addition 10,000 pound dowry, in 1753 and his career started to quickly pick up: he bought a home on the Thames at Twickenham near Horace Walpole; he published Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler in 1760; he was appointed as a magistrate in 1761; in 1765 became Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the County of Middlesex; and wrote a A General History of the Science and Practice of Music in 1776. He was knighted in 1772, and served as Chairman of the Quarter Session.
  Even with all the success, or because of it, he was resented among some of Johnson's circle. Hawkins, member of Johnson's second club, the Literary Club established 1764, resigned over a dispute with others of Johnson's circle. The relationship between Hawkins and the rest of Johnson's friends became so tense that many criticised Johnson for choosing Hawkins in 1784 as one of his executors for his will. However, within hours of Johnson's death, Thomas Cadell and William Strahan asked Hawkins to write a biography and an edition of Johnson's literary works.
  On 16 December 1784, St. James's Chronicle stated Hawkins and Boswell were both writing biographies. However, Thomas Tyers published before them when his A Biographical Sketch of Dr Samuel Johnson, the first postmortem biographical work on Johnson but not a full-length biography, ran in the December 1784 issue of The Gentleman's Magazine. This did not deter Hawkins and by 21 December 1784, he began advertising his "authentick" life of Johnson. This provoked an anonymous articles in St. James's Chronicle started attacking Hawkins: "It is evident from the Conduct of the late Dr. Johnson, that he designed Mr. Boswell for the sole Writer of his Life. Why else did he furnish him with such Materials for it as were withheld from every other Friend ... Little indeed did he suppose that a Person whom he had made one of his Executors would have instantly claimed the Office of his Biographer. Still less could he have imagined that this Self-Appointment would have been precipitately confirmed by the Booksellers." 
  The source of the attack was George Steevens, who worked with Johnson on an edition of Shakespeare's plays and was a constant critic of Hawkins. He, along with others, began to spread rumours about Hawkins: some claimed that he stole Johnson's belongings after his death, and others claimed that Hawkins wanted to slander Johnson in his biography. Hawkins house burned down on 23 February 1785, and he was barely able to preserve his notes and Johnson's diaries, which were the foundations for his Life. The work was published in March 1787. St. James's Chronicle and London Chronicle published excerpts for "several weeks" with the Universal Magazine and the Political Magazine following later. A second edition was published mid-April 1787.
caption: Sir John Hawkins
exif: {}