John Keats was born on 31 October 1795, the eldest son of Thomas and Frances Keats: his brother George, was born in 1797, Tom was born in 1799 and his sister Fanny (Frances Mary), in 1803. Thomas Keats was the head ostler at his father-in-law's livery stables, the Swan and Hoop at Moorfields (now Moorgate), Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London. He died on 16 April 1804 after falling from his horse, and just one year later Keats lost his grandfather John Jennings, with whom he had been living since his mother's remarriage. Five years later, Keats's mother died from tuberculosis, a disease that was to kill one of Keats's brothers and the poet himself. Provision had been made for the children, but the trustee Richard Abbey, proved re

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First published 28 August 2002

Citation: Wootton, Sarah. "John Keats". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 August 2002.
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