Richard Harris Barham was born in
Canterbury. He was the illegitimate son of a local alderman, also called Richard Harris Barham and a woman named Elizabeth Ffox. When he was seven years old his father died, leaving him a small estate, part of which was the manor of Tappington, in
Denton, Kent, mentioned frequently in his later work
The Ingoldsby Legends. At nine he was sent to
St Paul's School, but his studies were interrupted by an accident that partly crippled his arm for life. Deprived of vigorous bodily activity, he became a great reader and diligent student. During 1807 he entered
Brasenose College, Oxford, intending at first to study for the law, but deciding on a clerical career instead. In 1813 he was
ordained and found a country
curacy at
Snargate in Romney Marsh, marrying Caroline Smart the following year. While there he wrote his first novel
Baldwin, published in 1820. He began his second novel,
My Cousin Nicholas, though this was not published until 1834. in 1821 he moved to London (to 51
Great Queen Street), after gaining a
minor canonry at London's
St. Paul's Cathedral, where he served as a
cardinal. Three years later he became one of the
priests in ordinary of the King's
Chapel Royal, appointed as rector of
St Mary Magdalen and
St Gregory by St Paul's, living at
Amen Corner in St Paul's Churchyard. for the 'Dead Drummer of
Salisbury Plain', one of
The Ingoldsby Legends He edited the
London Chronicle in 1823, and in 1826 first contributed to ''
Blackwood's Magazine. In 1837 he began to contribute to the recently founded Bentley's Miscellany a series of tales (mostly metrical, some in prose) known as The Ingoldsby Legends
. These became popular and were published in collected form in three volumes between 1840 and 1847, and have since appeared in numerous editions. They may perhaps be compared to Hudibras''. The stories are generally whimsical, but based on antiquarian learning. There is also a collection of Barham's miscellaneous poems, edited posthumously by his son, called
The Ingoldsby Lyrics. Barham was a political
Tory, yet a lifelong friend of the liberal
Sydney Smith and of
Theodore Hook. Barham, a contributor to the
Edinburgh Review,
The Literary Gazette and
John Gorton's
Biographical Dictionary, also wrote a novel,
My Cousin Nicholas (1834). He died in London on 17 June 1845, after a long and painful illness. ==Legacy==