Rides Upon The Storm

He may not be so well known today, but Berkhamsted-born poet William Cowper was a literary giant of the 18th century. Stephen Roberts looks at the brilliant and troubled mind of the poet and hymnodist

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BEING a writer, I’m especially interested in wordsmiths who’ve preceded me, and particularly those who misplaced their marbles - in case there are warning signs to be heeded. Hertfordshire’s William Cowper, pronounced ‘Cooper’, was a case in point. One of the most popular poets of his generation – more than 100 editions of his poems were published in Britain in his lifetime – and described by Coleridge as ‘the best modern poet’, he would, nevertheless, suffer bouts of severe mental ill-health.

William’s father, John, was rector of St Peter’s in Berkhamsted from 17221756. William was born in the rectory on November 26, 1731 and baptised in his father’s church. If his start sounds solid, his early life was filled with tragedy. He and his brother John were the only two of seven siblings to live past infancy and his mother Ann died in childbirth when William was just six. Things did not improve at school. Education at Aldbury and a place on the Herts-Beds border saw him badly bullied.

After completing his education at Westminster School, adult life began promisingly however and a career as a lawyer beckoned as Cowper took chambers in London’s Middle Temple in 1752, being called to the bar two years later.

His first mental crisis occurred in 1763, when he was in his early 30s. He was offered a clerkship in the House of Lords, requiring an appearance at the bar of the Lords and a test of his suitability. The pressure affected him badly and he attempted to take his own life with poison. His attempt led to an 18-month stay at Nathaniel Cotton’s private Collegium Insanorum in St Albans. Unlike many asylums of the time, his treatment here was progressive.