Hayward, A. (Abraham), 1801-1884

Dates

• Existence: 1801 - 1884

Biography

Abraham Hayward, 1801-1884, was an English essayist and translator. Born in Wiltshire, Hayward studied at several schools, including Blundell's School in Tiverton, before moving to London and enrolling at the Inner Temple in 1824. He was called to the bar in 1832, but after the success of his 1833 translation of Goethe's Faust, the first translation of Faust into English, he pursued a career in journalism and literature. He never married.

Residing in London for the rest of his life, Hayward was well-connected in literary and political circles, counting among his acquaintances Thomas Babington Macaulay, William Makepeace Thackeray, W. E. Gladstone, and others. He contributed to many periodicals, including Quarterly Review, Monthly Magazine, and Edinburgh Review, and wrote several books, including collections of essays and biographies of Goethe and Mrs. Thrale (a friend of Dr. Johnson).

Hayward was involved in a controversy in 1845 over the Inner Temple's rules governing elections to the bench of the Inner Temple. Having received an appointment from Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, Hayward then failed to win election to the bench. He attributed the rejection to a grudge held by a Mr. Roebuck who, according to Inner Temple tradition, was able to exclude him with a single black ball.