Thomas Jefferson Hogg (24 May 1792 – 27 August 1862) was a British barrister and writer best known for his friendship with the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Hogg was raised in County Durham, but spent most of his life in London. He and Shelley became friends while studying at University College, Oxford, and remained close until Shelley's death. During their time at Oxford they collaborated on several literary projects, culminating in their joint expulsion following the publication of an essay titled "The Necessity of Atheism". They remained good friends, but their relationship was sometimes strained because of Hogg's attraction to the women who were romantically involved with Shelley.
Hogg became a barrister and met Jane Williams, who had become a close friend of Percy Shelley's shortly before the poet's death. Jane became Hogg's common-law wife and they had two children together. The family settled in London, although Hogg's legal career meant that he often had to travel away from home.
While living in London Hogg made the acquaintance of several well-known writers, and he published literary works of his own. He studied Greek literature for much of his life and published several articles on the subject, including two entries in the Encyclopædia Britannica. Most of the fiction he wrote was poorly reviewed. His best-known literary work was The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, an unfinished biography of the poet. Although the book was well researched and painted a clear picture of Shelley as a young man, it was criticised for portraying him negatively.
Hogg was well connected with Whig politicians. He received an appointment to a government commission on municipal corporations and became a revising barrister. His legal career was moderately successful, but he was often frustrated by his failure to attain his goal of becoming a professor or judge. Nevertheless, he was able to provide for his family thanks to an inheritance and the income from his legal career.
Early life Thomas Jefferson Hogg was the eldest of John and Prudentia (née Jones) Hogg's six children. He was given his paternal grandfather's first name and his paternal grandmother's last name. John's father was the son of a wealthy businessman and Prudentia's father was a Welsh clergyman. Although John was trained as a barrister, he did not practise law regularly. He instead devoted his time to managing his estate and serving as a justice of the peace. The family lived in a Georgian manor known as Norton House, situated outside Stockton-on-Tees.
As a young man, Hogg read many books, including Paradise Lost, Tristram Shandy and the Life of Johnson. John taught his son Greek and Latin. Every summer the family rented a house in Seaton Carew, where Hogg often hunted, fished and went horse riding. He attended a preparatory school in Ferrybridge for four years before moving to Durham School at the age of 12, which his father and grandfather had also attended.
Oxford In 1810, Hogg went up to University College, Oxford, his father's alma mater. There he met and became friends with Percy Bysshe Shelley in October 1810. Hogg and Shelley often discussed literature and metaphysics, had a shared disdain for religion and Oxford society, and were united in their belief in free love and free thinking. Although Shelley's father initially feared that his son was being corrupted by Hogg's ideas, he was reassured when he learned that Hogg was from a respectable family.
Hogg and Shelley collaborated on a pamphlet of "mock revolutionary" poetry in late 1810, Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson, that they attributed to Nicholson herself. She was a mentally unstable washerwoman who in 1786 had attempted to stab King George III with a dessert knife. They also composed a novel together, Lenora, but could not find a printer who was willing to publish such a subversive work.
In early 1811, Shelley and Hogg published The Necessity of Atheism, which outraged the Oxford authorities. Although it was published anonymously, suspicion soon fell on the pair. They refused either to acknowledge or to deny writing the work, and were expelled from Oxford as a result.
York After leaving Oxford, Hogg was sent to York to serve a legal apprenticeship. Timothy Shelley was furious when he learned of the expulsion, but John Hogg was not minded to discipline his son or to forbid him from associating with Percy Shelley. Prudentia Hogg, who was an Evangelical Christian, was shocked when she learned that her son was promoting atheism. She was further angered when she learned that her son had become a vegetarian, a decision that she attributed to Shelley's corrupting influence.
Hogg found employment in a conveyancer's office in York. Percy Shelley initially planned to visit him, but changed his plans in the spring of 1811 after he fell in love with a young woman named Harriet Westbrook. Shelley had always been opposed to the institution of marriage, but he cared deeply for Harriet and feared she would leave him if they did not marry. Hogg repeatedly made the case to Shelley that marriage was in Harriet's best interests. Shelley was eventually persuaded and eloped with Harriet to Edinburgh.
That autumn Hogg visited the couple in Edinburgh, which he greatly enjoyed. Hogg soon became very attracted to Harriet, and often spent time alone with her whenever Percy asked to write in solitude. Hogg eventually told Harriet of his feelings towards her, but she politely rebuffed him, and began to read novels with moral themes aloud in his presence.
After a stay of six weeks, Hogg had to return to the conveyancer's office in York, and the Shelleys decided to accompany him back to his home in that city. In October 1811 Percy left for London to mediate in a dispute between his father and his uncle. Harriet remained with Hogg, who soon made further unsuccessful romantic advances towards her. Harriet's mother soon learned that Hogg and her daughter were living together, and sent Harriet's sister to stay with them. Harriet complained to Percy Shelley on his return about the way Hogg had treated her; Percy was offended, but nevertheless remained on friendly terms with Hogg. Troubled by the distress felt by his housemates, Percy Shelley suddenly decided to leave York with Harriet and her sister. Hogg subsequently sent him a series of angry letters in which he complained about how he had been treated. In his replies Shelley maintained that he still valued free love, but had left to calm Harriet. Hogg and Shelley subsequently exchanged many emotional letters over the course of the following two months, but then ceased communicating for a year.
In 1811 Hogg wrote a picaresque novel, Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff. He published it anonymously, with the claim that it had been translated from Latin by a man named John Brown at Prince Haimatoff's request. The book did not sell very well. Later critics have noted a resemblance between Haimatoff and Percy Shelley. Shelley wrote a mostly positive review of the book published in The Critical Review in 1814, but he did criticise the author for promoting "promiscuous concubinage", apparently a veiled reference to Hogg's attempts to seduce Harriet.
Law studies
Hogg moved from York to London in the spring of 1812 to study law. He tried to conceal his political views from his classmates and spent long hours studying law and reading Greek literature. In 1813 Hogg reconciled with the Shelleys after they visited him in London. They remained in contact after the couple left on a journey to Wales and Ireland. In April 1814, Hogg went to Ireland in an attempt to cheer up Percy Shelley, who had complained of poor spirits in a letter. The Shelleys did not receive Hogg's last letter before he embarked on the journey and had left Dublin before he arrived. Unable to locate them, he returned home. Shelley soon travelled back to London as well.
In the summer of 1814, Hogg first met Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin while visiting William Godwin with Percy Shelley. Soon Hogg heard that Shelley had abandoned Harriet and eloped with Mary to Continental Europe. They returned later that year and Hogg was re-introduced to Mary in November 1814. Although she was initially cool towards him, Mary soon began to enjoy his frequent visits. Hogg became very attracted to Mary Shelley, and when Percy learned of his feelings towards her he encouraged both of them to have an affair, as an expression of free love. Mary, too, valued free love and was initially open to the idea, until she learned that she was pregnant.
The Shelleys moved to Windsor in the summer of 1815. Hogg visited them there when his workload permitted. They left England for Continental Europe again in May 1816, and Hogg resumed his visits after their return, but he was no longer as close to them as he had been. This was in part due to his awkwardness with Mary, who was preoccupied with her efforts to finish writing Frankenstein. Percy and Hogg were nonetheless able to convince Mary to attend the opera with them on a few occasions.
Percy Shelley soon decided to leave England for Italy in an attempt to improve his health, despite Hogg's attempts to dissuade him. He often invited Hogg to visit him and Mary, which he never did.
John and Prudentia Hogg were glad to hear that the Shelleys had left England, hoping that their son would become more conservative in Percy's absence. They were disappointed with his continued rejection of their Tory political views, but he did attend church with them during his visits and was no longer a vegetarian. They were also somewhat concerned about Hogg's association with the radical publisher Leigh Hunt and his circle of friends. Through Hunt, Hogg became acquainted with several members of London's literary circles, including Thomas Love Peacock, Charles Lamb and Walter Coulson. Hogg also met John Keats, who gave him a copy of his first book of poetry.
Hogg was called to the bar at the Michaelmas term in 1817, and often practised law in Northumberland and Durham. He frequently visited his family, with whom he was then on good terms. His reserved personality proved to be a hindrance to his career, and he remained dependent on financial assistance from his father. He continued studying Greek, and an article that he wrote on Apuleius was published in the third issue of The Liberal in 1822. A paper that he submitted for the fourth issue was rejected, causing him to resent the editors.
Jane Williams
In 1823 Hogg met Jane Williams while they were both visiting Percy Shelley's friend John Gisborne, husband of Maria Gisborne. Jane and her common-law husband Edward Ellerker Williams had been housemates of Shelley's shortly before his death. Edward Williams and Shelley died in a boating accident, leaving Jane alone with two young children. Hogg soon became very enamoured with her. They saw each other at the Gisborne household regularly during the autumn and early winter of 1823. That December he went back to Northern England to see his family. While he was there, he began writing to Jane regularly. The following spring he frequently visited her at her mother's house, and they often took long walks together. In March she moved out of her mother's house into a home of her own, allowing Hogg to see her more freely.
Jane was still legally married. Therefore, Hogg risked his family's wrath if he pursued a relationship with her. The couple were initially very discreet, and even denied to close friends that they were romantically involved. The situation was eased by the death of Hogg's father's in late 1823; the inheritance he received assured his financial security.