The life of John Clare, a year by year timeline…

1789-1799 French Revolutionary Period

1793     Born 13 July, son of poor peasants, Parker and Ann Clare. A twin sister (Bessy) dies soon after

1796     A sister, Elizabeth, born but dies within a year

1797     Birth of Mary Joyce

1798     Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads. Clare’s only surviving sibling, his sister Sophy, is born (d.1855). Irish Rebellion. Brief schooling at Helpston and Glinton

1800s     Meets Mary Joyce (relationship continues until c.1815-16). A variety of casual jobs: pot-boy, gardener at Burghley House. Robert Bloomfield, The Farmers Boy

1801     Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland

1803-1815 Napoleonic Wars

1805     Battle of Trafalgar, Lord Nelson killed

1806     Inspired by reading James Thomson’s The Seasons, begins to write poetry

1809     Works as pot-boy at Blue Bell Inn. Act of Parliament for enclosing Helpston and many local areas

1812     Brief period in the militia

1814     Buys a blank book in which to collect his poems from I B. Henson, a bookseller in Market Deeping

1815     Battle of Waterloo. Post-war economic depression

1817     Father disabled by rheumatism. Clare works as a lime burner at Bridge Casterton to help his family

1818-1819 Henson prints proposal for publishing Clare’s poems by subscription. Meets Edward Drury and through him John Taylor, the London publisher

1819     ‘Peterloo’ Massacre

1820     Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery published (January), goes into four editions by 1821. Visits Burghley House and Milton Park, homes of the local aristocracy. Visits London (March). Portrait is painted by William Hilton. Marries (16 March) Martha ‘Patty’ Turner (1799-1871). Daughter, Anna Maria, born (2 June)

1821    Death of John Keats (February, b. 1795). The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems (September)

1822     Second visit to London; meets Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey and Cary. Daughter, Eliza Maria, born (13 June). Death of Shelley (July, b.1792)

1823     Planning begins for next book. Long period of illness. Death of Robert Bloomfield (August, b.1766)

1824     Son, Frederick, born (5 January). Death of Lord Byron (April, b. 1788); Clare is in London and sees his funeral cortege

1826     Son, John, born (16 June)

1827     The Shepherd’s Calendar; with Village Stories, and Other Poems (April).

1828     Last visit to London. Son, William Parker, born (April)

1829     Catholic Emancipation Act

1830     More severe illness. Daughter, Sophia, born (July). ‘Captain Swing’ riots by farm labourers against introduction of machines

1832     Moves from cottage of his birth to Northborough

1833     Slavery Abolition Act. Son, Charles, born (January)

1834     Death of Coleridge (July, b. 1772). Tolpuddle Martyrs arrested, tried and convicted for forming an agricultural union, but pardoned in 1836 following protests

1835     The Rural Muse (July). Death of Clare’s mother, Ann

1836     Chartism movement emerges seeking political rights for the labouring classes. Active until 1848. First railway boom

1837     Clare goes to Dr Matthew Allen’s asylum at High Beach in Epping Forest

1838     Death of Mary Joyce, unmarried, in a house fire

1840     ‘Hungry Forties’ recession caused by bad harvests

1841     ‘Journey Out of Essex’ — Clare walks from High Beach to Northborough (July). Enters Northampton General Lunatic Asylum (December)

1843     Son Frederick dies of tuberculosis (TB)

1844     Daughter Ann Maria dies of TB (aged 24)

1846     Death of Clare’s father, Parker (aged 81)

1850     Death of Wordsworth (April, b.1770)

1852     Son Charles dies of TB

1863     Daughter Sophia dies, probably of TB

1864     John Clare dies (20 May) in Northampton; buried in Helpston (25 May)

This chronology appears in Mike Mecham, editor, Clare^’s People, published by The John Clare Society, July 2025. Copies can be purchased through the shop.