# George Soane

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English writer and dramatist

**George Soane** (1790–1860) was an English writer and dramatist.

George Soane (left) with his elder brother John, 1805 portrait by [William Owen](/source/William_Owen_(painter)) in [Sir John Soane's Museum](/source/Sir_John_Soane's_Museum), London.

## Life

The younger son of [John Soane](/source/John_Soane), he was born in London. He graduated B.A. from [Pembroke College, Cambridge](/source/Pembroke_College%2C_Cambridge), in 1811.[1][2] Shortly afterwards he married Agnes Boaden, against his parents' wishes. His writing career was not enough to earn a living. Soane fell into debt, and was imprisoned. In 1814 he was editing the *Theatrical Inquisitor*, but also served time for fraud.[3][4] He gave evidence on the [King's Bench Prison](/source/King's_Bench_Prison), from his experience of it, to a committee of enquiry in 1815.[5]

In *The Champion* during September 1815 Soane attacked his father's reputation as an architect, in two anonymous articles.[6] His mother died shortly afterwards. These pieces led to a family rupture, and indirectly to the foundation of [Sir John Soane's Museum](/source/Sir_John_Soane's_Museum).[3] Soane attempted to block the private [act of Parliament](/source/Act_of_Parliament), [Sir John Soane's Museum Act 1833](/source/Sir_John_Soane's_Museum_Act_1833) ([3 & 4 Will. 4](/source/3_%26_4_Will._4). c. *4* Pr.), that set up the museum's endowment. The matter was debated in the House of Commons for an hour, with [William Cobbett](/source/William_Cobbett) putting Soane's side of the argument, that he would be deprived of a rightful inheritance. [Joseph Hume](/source/Joseph_Hume) spoke in favour of the act, which was passed.[7]

Soane died on 12 July 1860.[2]

## Works

### Drama

Soane became known as an author of [melodramas](/source/Melodrama).[2]

"If you call out you are a dead man!": illustration from the published version of George Soane's *[The Inn-Keeper's Daughter](/source/The_Innkeeper's_Daughter)*. It was Soane's first melodrama, based on the poem "Mary, the Maid of the Inn", by [Robert Southey](/source/Robert_Southey).[8]

- *The Bohemian: a Tragedy*, London, 1817.

- *The Falls of Clyde: a Melodrama*, London, 1817.

- *[The Innkeeper's Daughter](/source/The_Innkeeper's_Daughter)*, Drury Lane, 1817.[9]

- *[Rob Roy, the Gregarach. A romantick drama, in three acts, etc](/source/Rob_Roy_(play))*, Drury Lane, 1818.[10]

- *Self-Sacrifice: a Melodrama*, London, 1819.

- *The Dwarf of Naples: a Tragi-comedy*, London, 1819.

- *[The Hebrew: a Drama](/source/The_Hebrew_(play))*, London, 1820.

- *Pride shall have a Fall: a Comedy*, London, 1824.

- *Faustus, or the Demon of Drachenfels*, London, 1825.[11]

- *Aladdin: a Fairy Opera*, London, 1826.

- *The Night Dancers: an Opera*, London, 1846.

- *The Island of Calypso: an Operatic Masque*, London, 1850.

### Other works

Soane's other works included:[2]

Illustration from *Specimens of German Romance* by George Soane

- *Knight Damon and a Robber Chief*, London, 1812.

- *The Eve of St. Marco: a Novel*, London, 1813.

- *The Peasant of Lucerne*, London, 1815.

- *Specimens of German Romance*, London, 1826.

- *The Frolics of Puck*, London, 1834.

- *Life of the Duke of Wellington*, London, 1839–40.

- *The Last Ball and other Tales*, Woking, 1843.

- *January Eve: a Tale*, London, 1847.

- *New Curiosities of Literature*, London, 1847.

Soane also made translations from French, German, and Italian.[2] He translated the novella *[Undine](/source/Undine_(novella))* by [Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué](/source/Friedrich_de_la_Motte_Fouqu%C3%A9) into English in 1818, and there was a stage version by 1821.[12] He supplied letterpress in 1820, translating some extracts of [Goethe](/source/Goethe)'s German, when the illustrations by [Moritz Retzsch](/source/Moritz_Retzsch) to *[Faust I](/source/Faust_I)* were published in London (plates copied by [Henry Moses](/source/Henry_Moses_(engraver))).[13] He was also credited by George Willis as one of the anonymous translators of *[Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations](/source/Popular_Tales_and_Romances_of_the_Northern_Nations)* (1823).[14]

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Soane, George (SN806G)"](https://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=SN806G&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50). *A Cambridge Alumni Database*. University of Cambridge.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DNB_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DNB_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-DNB_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-DNB_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-DNB_2-4) [Lee, Sidney](/source/Sidney_Lee), ed. (1898). ["Soane, John"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Soane,_John). *[Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography)*. Vol. 53. London: [Smith, Elder & Co](/source/Smith%2C_Elder_%26_Co).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ODNB_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ODNB_3-1) Plaskitt, Emma. "Soane, George". *[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography#Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)* (online ed.). Oxford University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/ref:odnb/25982](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F25982). (Subscription, [Wikipedia Library](https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/partners/88/) access or [UK public library membership](https://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** John O. Hayden (1969). [*The Romantic Reviewers: 1802-1824*](https://books.google.com/books?id=FVgVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA268). Taylor & Francis. pp. 268–. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780710060372](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780710060372). GGKEY:SYN12ZCJ3YC.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [*The King's Bench, and Marshalsea Prisons*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LK5bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA128). 1815. pp. 128–9.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Neville, Flora (11 January 2016). ["Architecture's morbid genius"](https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/culture/architectures-morbid-genius). *The Architects’ Journal*. Retrieved 12 November 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Hyde, Timothy (2005). ["Some Evidence of Libel, Criticism, and Publicity in the Architectural Career of Sir John Soane"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40482251). *Perspecta*. **37**: 144–163. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0079-0958](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0079-0958).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** William Seddinger Dye, *A Study of Melodrama in England from 1800 to 1840* (1919), p. 39; [archive.org.](https://archive.org/stream/studyofmelodrama00dyewrich#page/38/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** John C. Greene (2011). [*Theatre in Dublin, 1745-1820: A Calendar of Performances*](https://books.google.com/books?id=boLmd-KxZ9oC&pg=PA4289). Lexington Books. p. 4289. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-61146-118-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-61146-118-3).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** George Soane (1818). [*Rob Roy, the Gregarach. A romantick drama, in three acts, etc*](https://books.google.com/books?id=GRRXAAAAcAAJ). Richard Wright.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** [Brodsky Lawrence, Vera](/source/Vera_Brodsky_Lawrence) (1995). [*Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong, Volume 2: Reverberations, 1850-1856*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gMxQrkQTLHYC&pg=PA224). University of Chicago Press. p. 224. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-226-47011-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-226-47011-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** David Blamires (2009). [*Telling Tales: The Impact of Germany on English Children's Books, 1780-1918*](https://books.google.com/books?id=R5lG5GSx3EYC&pg=PA122). Open Book Publishers. p. 122. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-906924-09-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-906924-09-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** John Michael Cooper (2007). [*Mendelssohn, Goethe, and the Walpurgis Night: The Heathen Muse in European Culture, 1700-1850*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9wjf89joWfYC&pg=PA174). University Rochester Press. p. 174. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-58046-252-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-58046-252-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** [*A Catalogue of Superior Second-Hand Books*](https://books.google.com/books?id=DZcIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA8-PA19). George Willis. 25 April 1853. p. 19.

**Attribution**

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Lee, Sidney](/source/Sidney_Lee), ed. (1898). "[Soane, John](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Soane,_John)". *[Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography)*. Vol. 53. London: [Smith, Elder & Co](/source/Smith%2C_Elder_%26_Co).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [George Soane](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:George_Soane).

- [Works by George Soane](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35736) at [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg)

- [Works by or about George Soane](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Soane%2C%20George%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22George%20Soane%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Soane%2C%20George%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22George%20Soane%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Soane%2C%20G%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22George%20Soane%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Soane%2C%20George%22%20OR%20description%3A%22George%20Soane%22%29%20OR%20%28%221790-1860%22%20AND%20Soane%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

- [Works by George Soane](https://librivox.org/author/6862) at [LibriVox](/source/LibriVox) (public domain audiobooks)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [George Soane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Soane) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Soane?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.