Sunday, 3 February 2013

Two lesser known Bostonians.

James Richardson.

James Richardson, a traveller, was born in Boston on Nov. 3, 1809 and died at Ungurutua, central Africa, March 4, 1851. He visited Algeria and the Bar-bary states, and in 1845 travelled across the Sahara desert as far as Ghadames and Ghat, and after his return published "Travels in the Great Desert of Sak'ara" (2 vols., London, 1849). The English government placed him at the head of a new expedition, and, joined by Barth and Overweg, he left Tripoli in 1850, and was the first European visitor of the stony desert of Hammadah, where he proceeded to Bornoo, where he died. Bayle St. John edited his "Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa " (2 vols., 1853). Richardson is pictured below in Ghadamsee costume.


Westland Marston.

Westland Marston, was an author, born in Boston on Jan. 30, 1819. He received a legal education in the office of his uncle, a solicitor in London, but relinquished the law for dramatic authorship. Among his best plays are the tragedies of " The Patrician's Daughter " (1841), "The Heart and the World" (1847), "Strathmore" (1849), " Philip of France " (1849), and "Anne Blake " (1852), several of which possess poetic merits of a high order. He also produced some comic dramas. His more conspicuous later works are: "Pure Gold," "Donna Diana," "The Favorite of Fortune" (1866), "A Hero of Romance " (1867), and "Life for Life " (1868). He also published some lyrics in periodicals, a volume of poems (1842), " A Lady in her own Right," a novel (I860), and a collection of his contributions to periodicals under the title of "Family Credit, and other Tales " (1861).



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