Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dovaston, John Freeman Milward
DOVASTON, JOHN FREEMAN MILWARD (1782–1854), miscellaneous writer, son of John Dovaston of West Felton, near Oswestry, Shropshire, the name of an estate which had been in the Dovaston family since the reign of Elizabeth, was born on 30 Dec. 1782, and educated at Oswestry School, Shrewsbury School, and Christ Church, Oxford (B.A. 1804, M.A. 1807). He was called to the bar on 12 June 1807 at the Middle Temple. During his residence in London he acted for some time as dramatic critic to a morning paper. On the death of his father in 1808 he became possessed of the family estate, and spent the remainder of his life in literary retirement and rural pursuits. He died on 8 Aug. 1854. Dovaston was a man of wide culture, and an ardent naturalist. Among his friends were Thomas Bewick, the engraver, of whose life and character he communicated sketches to the magazines, and John Hamilton Reynolds. Bewick published an engraved portrait of him. Dovaston's publications were chiefly poetic, and of a very unambitious character. ‘Fitz-Gwarine, a ballad of the Welsh border, in three cantos, with other Rhymes, legendary, incidental, and humorous,’ was issued at Shrewsbury in 1812, and is an evident imitation of ‘Marmion.’ A second edition appeared in 1816 with numerous additions, and a third in 1825. The third edition contained, among other additions, a collection of songs entitled ‘British Melodies.’ Twenty-six of these were originally published in 1817, under the patronage of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, with the music by Clementi, in two volumes, under the title of ‘A Selection of British Melodies, with Symphonies, Harmonies, and Accompaniments by Mr. Clifton.’ ‘Floribella,’ a poem, followed, and ‘Lectures on Natural History and National Melody’ appeared in 1839. ‘The Dove’ (1822) was a selection of old poems made by Dovaston, which were originally published in the ‘Oswestry Herald.’
[Gent. Mag. 1854, xlii. 395.]