Engraving by W. Wastle after P.M., 1819. Courtesy The Walter Scott Digital Archive, Edinburgh University Library.

Francis Jeffrey was born in Edinburgh on 23 October, 1773 and was educated in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Queen's College, Oxford. Although he made his name as the shaping force behind the Edinburgh Review, a journal solidly on the Whig side of the political debates in early nineteenth-century Britain, he came from a Tory background. According to Jeffrey's long-time friend, Henry Cockburn, the 1793 Edinburgh treason trials, in which a number of radicals were tried and sentenced to transportation – effectively a delayed death sentence – were a formative event in the development of Jeffrey's political thought. Jeffrey witnessed the trials and was never afterwards able to speak

999 words

Citation: Perkins, Pam. "Lord Francis Jeffrey". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2355, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2355 Lord Francis Jeffrey 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.