# John Oakman

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'''John Oakman''' (c.1748–1793) was an English engraver and writer.

==Life==
Oakman was born in [Hendon](/source/Hendon) about 1748, and was educated at a grammar school. He was apprenticed to the map-engraver [Emanuel Bowen](/source/Emanuel_Bowen), but left before completing his indenture, in consequence of an affair with his daughter, whom he afterwards married.<ref name="dnb00">{{cite DNB|first=Lionel Henry|last=Cust|authorlink=Lionel Henry Cust|wstitle=Oakman, John|volume=41|page=292}}</ref><ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|id=20433|title=Oakman, John}}</ref>

He kept a shop in partnership with [Matthias Darly](/source/Matthias_Darly) for the sale of caricatures and similar prints,<ref name="dnb00"/> "but the love of pleasure and good company got so much the better of his judgment that he was soon put to other contrivances to obtain a living."<ref name="mag">[https://books.google.com/books?id=HsayOTjfvocC&pg=PA335 Page 335] ''[The Monthly Magazine](/source/The_Monthly_Magazine)'', volume 10. 1800.</ref> Having some literary facility, he made money by writing several disreputable novels, such as ''The Life and Adventures of Benjamin Brass'' (1765), partly based on his early life, ''The History of Sir Edward Haunch'', and others. His book ''The Adventures of William Williams, an African Prince'', whom Oakman met in Liverpool prison, had some success through its attack on slavery as an institution.<ref name="dnb00"/> "He wrote for two guineas a set of two volumes; and such was his rapidity, that he could produce one work a week."<ref name="mag"/>

Oakman had a gift for song-writing, and wrote many popular songs for [Vauxhall Gardens](/source/Vauxhall_Gardens), [Bermondsey Spa](/source/Bermondsey_Spa) and elsewhere; he also wrote [burletta](/source/burletta)s for the performances at [Astley's Amphitheatre](/source/Astley's_Amphitheatre). He engraved on wood illustrations for children's books and cheap literature. After a somewhat vagrant life, Oakman died destitute at his sister's house in Westminster in October 1793,<ref name="dnb00"/> and was buried at [Holy Trinity Minories](/source/Holy_Trinity_Minories).<ref name="odnb"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

'''Attribution'''

* {{DNB|first=Lionel Henry|last=Cust|authorlink=Lionel Henry Cust|wstitle=Oakman, John|volume=41|page=292}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakman, John}}
Category:1740s births
Category:1793 deaths
Category:18th-century English novelists
Category:English male songwriters
Category:English wood engravers
Category:18th-century English engravers
Category:Artists from the London Borough of Barnet
Category:Musicians from the London Borough of Barnet
Category:People from Hendon
Category:Writers from the London Borough of Barnet

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