Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Manners, George

600050Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 36 — Manners, George1893William Arthur Jobson Archbold

MANNERS, GEORGE (1778–1853), editor of the ‘Satirist,’ was born in 1778. He was called to the bar, became a noted wit in London, and was in 1807 founder and one of the proprietors of the ‘Satirist, or Monthly Meteor,’ a venture in scurrilous literature, issued monthly, with a view, it was claimed, to the exposure of impostors. The first number appeared on 1 Oct. 1807. At first coloured cartoons were attempted, but it is stated in the preface to vol. ii. that these were dropped owing to the artists having disappointed the editor. In 1812 Manners parted with it and the publishing offices at 267 Strand to William Jerdan [q. v.], who tried his luck ‘with a new series, divested of the personalities and rancour of the old.’ Despite the bad bargain which he made over this purchase, Jerdan describes Manners as ‘a gentleman in every sense of the word, full of fancy and talent, acute and well informed’ (Autobiography, i. 108). The periodical ceased in 1824. In 1819 Manners became British consul at Boston, and held office till 1839. He died at Coburg in Canada on 18 Feb. 1853.

Manners wrote: 1. ‘Edgar, or the Caledonian Brothers,’ a tragedy, London, 1806, 4to. 2. ‘Mentoriana, or a Letter of Admonition to the Duke of York,’ 1807, 8vo. 3. ‘Vindiciæ Satiricæ, or a Vindication of the Principles of the “Satirist,”’ 1809, 8vo. 4. ‘The Rival Impostors, or Two Political Epistles to Two Political Cheats,’ 1809, 8vo. 5. ‘The Conflagration: a Poem,’ Boston, 1825, 4to; this was written to assist the sufferers in Canadian fires.

[Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. i. 314, 561, ii. 156; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Drake's Amer. Biog.]

W. A. J. A.