William Bodham Donne

William Bodham Donne (1807–1882) was an English journalist, known also as a librarian and theatrical censor.

Early life and career

Donne was born 29 July 1807; his grandfather was an eminent surgeon in Norwich. His father Edward Charles Donne, of Mattishall Hall, was also a medical practitioner. He was educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School, taught for two years by Benjamin Heath Malkin. There he formed lasting friendships with James Spedding, Edward FitzGerald, and John Mitchell Kemble, the Anglo-Saxon scholar. His friendship in after life with the Kemble family helped to turn his attention to the drama. He went to Caius College, Cambridge, but scruples against taking the religious tests then required prevented him from graduating. He was a Cambridge Apostle, and a member of the Sterling Club.

After he left Cambridge, the choice of a career proved troublesome for Donne; and he hardly solved the problem, well connected as he was. He asked friends to find him literary work. He spent time at Mattishall in Norfolk, on Anne Bodham's estate; she was his great-aunt, and a cousin of William Cowper. There he married, and took up periodical journalism. In 1846 he moved to Bury St. Edmunds, for the sake of the education of his sons, and came to know John William Donaldson, then head-master of the school. Other friends were William Taylor, Henry Crabb Robinson, Bernard Barton, Thomas Manning, and George Borrow. He was one of the founding members of the Bury and West Suffolk Archaeological Institute, attending their first meeting in 1848.