| AdminHistory | Born 1777; son of the author and engraver Samuel Ireland; baptised William Henry, but sometimes called Samuel; educated at private schools in Kensington, Ealing and Soho; sent to schools in France, c1790-c1794; articled to William Bingley, a conveyancer in chancery of New Inn; as a boy, collected rare books; composed verses in imitation of early authors; his father was an admirer of Shakespeare, and with his son visited Stratford-upon-Avon, accepting as true many false traditions concerning Shakespeare, c1794; the younger Ireland's familiarity with old legal documents enabled him to forge a mortgage deed to which Shakespeare was purported to have been party, 1794; supplied his father with similar documents, and with verses and letters bearing Shakespeare's forged signature; produced early printed volumes in which he had inscribed Shakespeare's name and forged annotations; an exhibition of the documents arranged by the elder Ireland was attended by the chief literary men of the day, many of whom were convinced of their authenticity, 1795; the younger Ireland continued to add documents to the collection; his father published some of the documents in facsimile, 1795; critics denounced the documents as forgeries; after much negotiation Sheridan agreed to produce the forged play 'Vortigern' at Drury Lane, 1795; despite doubts of those concerned, it was performed once, being greeted with ridicule, 1796; the elder Ireland's faith in the authenticity of the documents endured; his son eventually admitted his forgeries, but his father was also believed to be responsible for the deliberate deceit, to his distress, 1796; the son left home; his father continued to defend the documents, and published both 'Vortigern' and 'Henry II', 1799; died, unreconciled to his son, 1800; his son opened a circulating library in Kennington, 1798; sold imitations in his feigned handwriting of the famous forged papers; book-collectors employed him to "inlay" illustrated books; employed by Princess Elizabeth, afterwards landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, to prepare a "Frogmore Fte", 1802; settled at York before 1811; his extravagance led to a temporary imprisonment in the castle; obtained fairly regular employment from London publishers; died at Sussex Place, St George's-in-the-Fields, 1835. Publications: numerous, including 'Authentic Account' (1796) and 'Confessions' (1805), concerning his forgeries, and other works including poetry, novels and political satire. |
| CustodialHistory | Part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |