Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Haywood, Francis
HAYWOOD, FRANCIS (1796–1858), translator of Kant, was born at Liverpool in 1796. He belonged to the literary circle which surrounded William Roscoe [q. v.] and William Shepherd [q. v.] in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and formed an especially close friendship with Antonio Panizzi when he came to Liverpool as a protegé of Roscoe's in 1823. Possessed of ample means, he devoted himself to study, and must at an early age have acquired a knowledge of German and of German philosophy and divinity unusual in England at the period, having been in 1828 the anonymous translator of Bretschneider's reply to Hugh James Rose's [q. v.] 'State of Protestantism in Germany,' dealing with the tendencies of German theology. He shortly afterwards undertook a much more difficult task in the translation of Kant's 'Critick of Pure Reason,' previously only accessible to English students unacquainted with German in a French or a Latin version. Haywood's long remained the standard English translation. Published in 1838, it was reprinted with improvements in 1848, and was commended by the chief authority on Kant in Great Britain, Sir William Hamilton, with whom Haywood corresponded respecting it. Its general accuracy was admitted by Max Müller, interested though the latter was in a rival translation. In 1844 Haywood published an analysis of the 'Critick,' designed 'to elucidate the points which still remain unintelligible.' In 1853 he translated the 'Researches into the History of the Roman Constitution' of Wilhelm Ihne, a personal friend. He resided at Edge Lane Hall, near Liverpool, but died at Silliers, Worcestershire, on 29 May 1858. Haywood was Panizzi's surety on occasion of all the latter's appointments at the British Museum, and the warmth of their mutual regard is evinced in their correspondence.
[Pagan's Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi, 1880, i. 54 (with a sketch of Haywood), 100, 331, ii. passim; Gent. Mag. 1858, ii. 201; Brit. Mus. Cat,]