Isaac Gompertz
{{Short description|English poet (1774–1856)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Isaac Gompertz
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1774}}
| birth_place = Middlesex, England
| death_date = {{Death date|1856|02|25|df=y}} (aged 82)
| death_place = London, England
| resting_place = Brompton Cemetery, London
| occupation = Poet
| notable_works = {{Unbulleted list|
- "The Modern Antique"
- "Time, or Light and Shade"
- "Devon"
}}
| spouse = {{Marriage|Charlotte Florence Wattier|1818}}
| children = 3
| relatives = {{Plainlist|
- Benjamin Gompertz (brother)
- Lewis Gompertz (brother)
- Gompertz family
}}
| years_active = 1813–1825
| pseudonym = J. Gompertz
}}
Isaac Gompertz (1774 – 25 February 1856) was an English poet. He was known for the poems "The Modern Antique", "Time, or Light and Shade" and "Devon", the latter of which was published under the name J. Gompertz.
Biography
= Early life and family =
Isaac Gompertz was born into a Jewish family in Middlesex, in 1774.{{Cite web |title=GOMPERTZ Isaac |url=https://www.cemeteryscribes.com/getperson.php?personID=I9712&tree=Cemeteries |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=CemeteryScribes}} He was one of at least 15 children of Solomon Barent Gompertz, a London diamond merchant, and his second wife, Leah Deborah Cohen.{{Cite web |title=Gompertz, Isaac |url=https://jacksonbibliography.library.utoronto.ca/author/details/gompertz-isaac/5821 |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Poetry |publisher=University of Toronto Libraries}} His brothers included the animal rights activist and inventor Lewis Gompertz and the mathematician and actuary Benjamin Gompertz.{{Cite web |last1=Jacobs |first1=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Jacobs |last2=Harris |first2=Isidore |date=1906 |title=GOMPERTZ, ISAAC |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6797-gompertz-isaac |access-date=2021-02-16 |website=Jewish Encyclopedia}} He later composed epitaphs for his brother Barent and for Lewis' wife.{{Cite thesis |last=Susser |first=Bernard |title=The Jews of South-West England |date=2003 |access-date=2024-06-23 |url=https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/susser/thesis/thesisacknowledgements.htm}}{{Cite book|last=Gompertz|first=Lewis|url=https://archive.org/details/fragments-in-defence-of-animals-and-essays-on-morals-soul-and-future-state-lewisgompertz|title=Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State|publisher=W. Horsell|year=1852|location=London|pages=292|chapter=Epitaph, by Isaac Gompertz, Esq., on the lamented wife of the author of the work}}
= Career =
Gompertz was known for his poems "The Modern Antique", "Time, or Light and Shade", and "Devon".{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EQDAAAAYAAJ |title=The Assurance Magazine, and Journal of the Institute of Actuaries |publisher=C. & E. Layton |year=1867 |volume=13 |location=London |pages=2 |language=en}} Contemporaries, including Alexander Jamieson,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spOxzrifZjcC |title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4039-3910-4 |editor-last=Rubinstein |editor-first=William D. |editor-link=William D. Rubinstein |pages=352 |language=en |chapter=Gompertz Family |editor-last2=Jolles |editor-first2=Michael |editor-last3=Rubinstein |editor-first3=Hilary L. |editor-link3=Hilary L. Rubinstein}} compared Gompertz to literary figures such as Dryden, Pope, Addison and Gray.{{Cite book |last=Emden |first=Paul Herman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIwaAAAAIAAJ |title=Jews of Britain: A Series of Biographies |publisher=S. Low, Marston & Company, Limited |year=1944 |location=London |pages=171 |language=en}} His works garnered positive attention from Leigh Hunt and were well received by the contemporary press.{{Cite book |last=Kearley |first=William Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/westcountrypoets00wrigrich |title=West-Country Poets: Their Lives and Works |publisher=Elliot Stock |year=1896 |location=London |pages=210 |chapter=Isaac Gompertz}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3QpAAAAYAAJ |title=The Menorah: A Monthly Magazine for the Jewish Home |publisher=Menorah Publishing Company |year=1889 |volume=7 |pages=211 |language=en}} His final work, Devon, a Poem, was published under the name J. Gompertz.
= Personal life and death =
On 3 December 1818, Gompertz married Charlotte Florence Wattier at St Mary's Church, Ealing. They had three sons.
Gompertz died at his home in Ebury Street, London, on 25 February 1856, at the age of 82. He was buried at Brompton Cemetery.
Publications
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=J6v3p_cYpYEC The Modern Antique; Or, The Muse in the Costume of Queen Anne] (London: W. Pople, 1813; published anonymously)
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jkg_AQAAMAAJ Time, or Light and Shade] (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1815)
- Devon, a Poem (Teignmouth: 1825; published under the name J. Gompertz)
References
External links
- {{wikiquote-inline}}
- [https://archives.jtsa.edu/repositories/2/resources/38 Isaac Gompertz Papers] at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gompertz, Isaac}}
Category:19th-century English male writers
Category:19th-century English poets
Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers
Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery
Category:English Ashkenazi Jews
Category:English people of German-Jewish descent
Category:Jewish English writers