Henry Austin Dobson

“ Locker's general characteristics are well summed up by his son-in-law, Mr. Augustine Birrell, in the Appendix to the Rowfant Library, 1900. He was 'essentially a man of the world ; he devoted his leisure hours to studying the various sides of human nature, and drawing the good that he could out of all sorts and conditions of men. His delicate health prevented him from taking any very active share in stirring events ”

“ His work mellowed as he grew older, and departed further from his first models — those rhymes galamment composés which had been his youthful ambition ; but the majority of his pieces, at all times, by their distinctive character and personal note, rise far above the level of the mere vers d'occasion or vers de société with which it was once the practice to class them. ”

“ Locker's experiences as an admiralty clerk were prolonged under Sir James Graham and Sir Charles Wood. In 1849 his health, never good, broke down, and he obtained a long leave of absence. In July 1850 he married Lady Charlotte Bruce, a daughter of Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin [q.v.] , who brought the famous Elgin marbles to England. Not long afterwards he quitted the government service. In 1857 he published, with Chapman & Hall, his first collection of verse, 'London Lyrics,' a small volume of ninety pages, and the germ of all his subsequent work. ”