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Robert Charles Dallas (1754 – 1824) was a Jamaican-born British poet and conservative writer. He is known also for a contentious book on Lord Byron, and a history of the Second Maroon War.

Family

Robert Charles Dallas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where his father, Robert Dallas, M.D., of Dallas Castle, Jamaica, was a physician; his mother was a daughter of Colonel Cormack or Cammack.^[1]^[2]

The elder Robert Dallas came to Jamaica from Scotland around 1730. His first wife was Mary Frances Main, daughter of Samuel Themer Main, a merchant of Kingston. Dr Dallas then had a long-standing affair with Sarah Hewitt, née Cammack, and Robert Charles Dallas was born 14 July 1754. Sarah had previously married John Hewitt in 1751. Robert Charles was born illegitimate, and his parents eventually married in 1769, in England, after John Hewitt's death.^[2]

A brother of Dallas was Alexander James Dallas. There were at least two other brothers (one possibly a half-brother) and two sisters in the family. Dr Dallas died in 1769, shortly after marrying Sarah Hewitt.^[3] His will left his estate to his wife Sarah.^[4] Dr. Dallas bought the Boar Castle estate on the Cane River, Jamaica in 1758, changing its name to Dallas Castle. He left the island in 1764, having mortgaged the estate and put it in a trust.^[2] This property included 900 acres and 91 slaves.^[5]

Early life

Robert Charles Dallas was educated at Musselburgh, in Scotland, and under James Elphinston at Kensington, London. He entered the Inner Temple, but on coming of age went to Jamaica to take possession of the estates which he had inherited, and became an official there. After three years he visited England and married. He returned with his wife to Jamaica. He subsequently resigned his post and left Jamaica for the sake of his wife's health.^[1]

Later life

Dallas lived on the continent of Europe, moving to the United States of America when the French Revolution occurred. He was disappointed in America and returned to England.^[6] He had sold the Dallas Castle estate on Jamaica by 1810.^[7] He died in autumn 1824 at Sainte-Adresse, Normandy, France, and was buried at Le Havre.^[1]

Works

Dallas wrote a great deal: he said himself that he aimed to oppose the Jacobins and "confusion".^[6]

The History of the Maroons (1803)

In 1803 Dallas contributed to the documentation of Jamaican history with The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone, (2 vols). In part a general history of Jamaica, which was written by John Browne Cutting,^[8] the book concentrated on the Second Maroon War and the subsequent deportations of the Jamaican Maroons of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. Dallas had accounts from William Dawes Quarrell, who accompanied Maroons to Nova Scotia, and may be the plantation owner of Hanover Parish of that name; and William Robertson, who had served in the war.^[9]^[10] James Robertson the surveyor and cartographer made a map of the Cockpit Country for the book.^[11]

This work was published in a period when much public attention had been given over to the revolutionary events in Europe. The matter had previously been treated by Bryan Edwards in an account first published in 1796.^[12] Dallas expressed disapproval of slavery, but defended some government positions.^[6]

Dallas has been identified as also the author of the anonymous travel book A Short Journey in the West Indies (1790), mainly about Jamaica, which makes anti-slavery and anti-planter remarks.^[2] The Monthly Review commented that the author was cashing in on public interest in the slavery question, and had exaggerated the hardships.^[13] James Stephen, who was aware of Dallas's authorship of A Short Journey, regarded The History of the Maroons as a defence of slavery against his own book The Crisis of the Sugar Colonies (1802).^[14]

Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron

Dallas is best known for a connection with Lord Byron, and his Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from the year 1808 to the end of 1814 appeared posthumously, by a tortuous route. His sister Henrietta Charlotte was married to the Hon. George Anson Byron, an uncle of Byron.^[1]

Dallas introduced himself to Byron by letter on the publication of Hours of Idleness (1807). Dallas saw something of Byron after the poet's return from the Near East, gave him literary advice, and communicated for him with publishers; Byron in recognition gave him copyright for some of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and for The Corsair.^[1] But Dallas's didactic line palled, and Byron, after corresponding with Dallas in 1808–11, dropped him.^[6]

Some letters addressed by Byron to his mother during his eastern travels were given to Dallas by Byron. Dallas, on the strength of these and other communications, prepared an account of Byron's life from 1808 to 1814.^[1] He notified Byron in 1819 that the Recollections were finished, and would be published only after his own death.^[15]

When Byron died in April 1824, Dallas proposed to publish the Recollections. On the grapevine (via Byron's aunt Julia Heath) Augusta Leigh, Byron's half-sister who was dealing with a number of would-be biographers, heard of the plan and objected strongly. Dallas won over George Anson Byron, his brother-in-law.^[16] John Cam Hobhouse and John Hanson, Byron's executors, obtained an injunction from Lord Eldon against the publication of the letters.^[1] Extracts from the Recollections appeared in The Courier, in November 1824, but about a month behind Thomas Medwin's Conversations of Lord Byron.^[15]

By the time of the Courier publication, Dallas had returned to France and died.^[6] There was a French version, and his son Alexander Dallas had the book published in 1825, in Paris, beyond the English court's jurisdiction, if also much changed.^[15]

Other works

Dallas's other works included:^[1]

Miscellaneous Writings, consisting of Poems; Lucretia, a Tragedy; and Moral Essays, with a Vocabulary of the Passions, 1797.
Percival, or Nature Vindicated, 4 vols. 1801, novel.
Elements of Self-Knowledge (compiled and partly written by Dallas), 1802.
Aubrey, 4 vols. 1804, novel.
The Marlands, Tales illustrative of the Simple and Surprising, 4 vols. 1805.
The Knights, Tales illustrative of the Marvellous, 3 vols. 1808.
Not at Home, a Dramatic Entertainment, 1809.
The New Conspiracy against the Jesuits detected, 1815 (in French, 1816).
Letter to C. Butler relative to the New Conspiracy, 1817.
Sir Francis Darrell, or the Vortex, 4 vols. 1820, novel.
Adrastus, a Tragedy; Amabel, or the Cornish Lovers; and other Poems, 1823.

His Miscellaneous Works and Novels, in 7 vols., were published in 1813.^[1]

Family

Dallas married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Harding of Hacton House, Essex; Rev. Alexander Robert Charles Dallas was their son.^[6] Harding was a slave-owner in Jamaica, whose will had been proved in 1766.^[17]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Dallas, Robert Charles" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ashcroft, Michael (1975). "Robert Charles Dalles identified as the author of an anonymous book about Jamaica". Jamaica Journal. 9 (1): 94–101.
^ Axel Jansen (14 February 2011). Alexander Dallas Bache. Campus Verlag. p. 33. ISBN 978-3-593-39355-1.
^ "Summary of Individual, Robert Dallas ????–1769". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
^ University College London, Legacies of British Slave-Ownership https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651101 Retrieved 10 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Watt, James. "Dallas, Robert Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7038. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "Summary of Individual, Robert Charles Dallas 1754–1824". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
^ Robert Charles Dallas (1803). The History of the Maroons: From Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone; Including the Expedition to Cuba ... : with a Succinct History of the Island; in Two Volumes. Longman and Rees. p. x.
^ B. W. Higman; Franklin W. Knight (1 January 1999). General History of the Caribbean: Methodology and historiography of the Caribbean. UNESCO. p. 481. ISBN 978-92-3-103360-5.
^ "Summary of Individual William Dawes Quarrell, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
^ B. W. Higman (2001). Jamaica Surveyed: Plantation Maps and Plans of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. University of the West Indies Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-976-640-113-9.
^ "Original criticism: The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone". The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine. XV (May 1803): 31–41. 1803. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
^ Innes M. Keighren; Charles W. J. Withers; Bill Bell (11 May 2015). Travels into Print: Exploration, Writing, and Publishing with John Murray, 1773-1859. University of Chicago Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-226-23357-4.
^ James Stephen (1824). The Slavery of the British West India Colonies Delineated: Being a delineation of the state in point of law. J. Butterworth and Son. p. 351 note.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Robert Charles Dallas: Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron: Contents". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
^ Michael Bakewell; Melissa Bakewell (2000). Augusta Leigh, Byron's Half Sister: A Biography. Chatto & Windus. pp. 295–7. ISBN 978-0-18-561975-4.
^ "Summary of Individual, Benjamin Harding, ????–1766, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 28 February 2017.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Dallas, Robert Charles". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[DNB-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Dallas, Robert Charles" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[Ashcroft-2] Ashcroft, Michael (1975). "Robert Charles Dalles identified as the author of an anonymous book about Jamaica". Jamaica Journal. 9 (1): 94–101.

[3] Axel Jansen (14 February 2011). Alexander Dallas Bache. Campus Verlag. p. 33. ISBN 978-3-593-39355-1.

[4] "Summary of Individual, Robert Dallas ????–1769". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

[5] University College London, Legacies of British Slave-Ownership https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651101 Retrieved 10 November 2020.

[ODNB-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Watt, James. "Dallas, Robert Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7038. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[7] "Summary of Individual, Robert Charles Dallas 1754–1824". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

[8] Robert Charles Dallas (1803). The History of the Maroons: From Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone; Including the Expedition to Cuba ... : with a Succinct History of the Island; in Two Volumes. Longman and Rees. p. x.

[HigmanKnight1999-9] B. W. Higman; Franklin W. Knight (1 January 1999). General History of the Caribbean: Methodology and historiography of the Caribbean. UNESCO. p. 481. ISBN 978-92-3-103360-5.

[10] "Summary of Individual William Dawes Quarrell, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 4 March 2017.

[11] B. W. Higman (2001). Jamaica Surveyed: Plantation Maps and Plans of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. University of the West Indies Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-976-640-113-9.

[AJRM-12] "Original criticism: The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone". The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine. XV (May 1803): 31–41. 1803. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

[13] Innes M. Keighren; Charles W. J. Withers; Bill Bell (11 May 2015). Travels into Print: Exploration, Writing, and Publishing with John Murray, 1773-1859. University of Chicago Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-226-23357-4.

[14] James Stephen (1824). The Slavery of the British West India Colonies Delineated: Being a delineation of the state in point of law. J. Butterworth and Son. p. 351 note.

[LBT-15] "Robert Charles Dallas: Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron: Contents". Retrieved 4 March 2017.

[16] Michael Bakewell; Melissa Bakewell (2000). Augusta Leigh, Byron's Half Sister: A Biography. Chatto & Windus. pp. 295–7. ISBN 978-0-18-561975-4.

[17] "Summary of Individual, Benjamin Harding, ????–1766, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 28 February 2017.

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+{{Short description|Jamaican-born British poet and conservative writer}}
-{{distinguish2|the lawyer [[Robert Dallas]] (1756–1824) or [[Dallas baronets{{!}}Sir Robert Charles Dallas]], 2nd Baronet (1804–1874)}}
+{{distinguish|text=the lawyer [[Robert Dallas]] (1756–1824) or [[Dallas baronets|Sir Robert Charles Dallas]], 2nd Baronet (1804–1874)}}
-'''Robert Charles Dallas''' (1754–1824) was a Jamaican-born British poet and conservative writer. He is known also for a contentious book on [[Lord Byron]].
+{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
+'''Robert Charles Dallas''' (1754 – 1824) was a Jamaican-born British poet and conservative writer. He is known also for a contentious book on [[Lord Byron]], and a history of the [[Second Maroon War]].
-==Life==
+==Family==
-He was born in [[Kingston, Jamaica]], where his father, Robert Dallas, M.D., of Dallas Castle, Jamaica, was a physician; his mother was a daughter of Colonel Cormack.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Dallas, Robert Charles|volume=13}}</ref> One of his brothers was [[Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)|Alexander James Dallas]]; there were at least two other brothers (one possibly a half-brother) and two sisters in the family. His father died in 1769.<ref>{{cite book|author=Axel Jansen|title=Alexander Dallas Bache|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IflAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33|date=14 February 2011|publisher=Campus Verlag|isbn=978-3-593-39355-1|page=33}}</ref> His will left his estate to his wife Sarah.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651101|title=Summary of Individual, ''Robert Dallas'' ????–1769, Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref>
+Robert Charles Dallas was born in [[Kingston, Jamaica]], where his father, Robert Dallas, M.D., of Dallas Castle, Jamaica, was a physician; his mother was a daughter of Colonel Cormack or Cammack.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Dallas, Robert Charles|volume=13}}</ref><ref name="Ashcroft"/>
+The elder Robert Dallas came to Jamaica from Scotland around 1730. His first wife was Mary Frances Main, daughter of Samuel Themer Main, a merchant of Kingston. Dr Dallas then had a long-standing affair with Sarah Hewitt, née Cammack, and Robert Charles Dallas was born 14 July 1754. Sarah had previously married John Hewitt in 1751. Robert Charles was born illegitimate, and his parents eventually married in 1769, in England, after John Hewitt's death.<ref name="Ashcroft"/>
-Dallas was educated at [[Musselburgh]], in Scotland, and under [[James Elphinston]] at [[Kensington]], London. He entered the [[Inner Temple]], but on coming of age went to Jamaica to take possession of the estates which he had inherited from his father, and became an official there. After three years he visited England and married. He returned with his wife to Jamaica.<ref name="DNB"/> In 1803 he contributed to the documentation of Jamaican history with his book ''The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone''. This book was published in a period when much public attention had been given over to the revolutionary events in Europe. The matter had previously been treated by [[Bryan Edwards (politician)|Bryan Edwards]] in an account first published in 1796.<ref name="AJRM">{{cite journal|title="Original criticism: The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone"|journal=The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine|date=1803|volume=XV|issue=May 1803|pages=31-41|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dfnVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA31|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref>
+A brother of Dallas was [[Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)|Alexander James Dallas]]. There were at least two other brothers (one possibly a half-brother) and two sisters in the family. Dr Dallas died in 1769, shortly after marrying Sarah Hewitt.<ref>{{cite book|author=Axel Jansen|title=Alexander Dallas Bache|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IflAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33|date=14 February 2011|publisher=Campus Verlag|isbn=978-3-593-39355-1|page=33}}</ref> His will left his estate to his wife Sarah.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651101|title=Summary of Individual, ''Robert Dallas'' ????–1769|publisher= Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> Dr. Dallas bought the Boar Castle estate on the [[Cane River (Jamaica)|Cane River]], Jamaica in 1758, changing its name to Dallas Castle. He left the island in 1764, having mortgaged the estate and put it in a trust.<ref name="Ashcroft"/> This property included 900 acres and 91 slaves.<ref>University College London, ''Legacies of British Slave-Ownership'' https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651101 Retrieved 10 November 2020.</ref>
-He subsequently resigned his post and left Jamaica for the sake of his wife's health.<ref name="DNB"/>
+==Early life==
-Dallas lived on the continent of Europe, moving to the United States of America when the [[French Revolution]] occurred. He was disappointed in America, and returned to England.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=7038|first=James|last=Watt|title=Dallas, Robert Charles}}</ref> He sold the Dallas Castle estate on Jamaica, by 1810.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651103|title=Summary of Individual, ''Robert Charles Dallas'' 1754–1824, Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> He died in autumn 1824, at [[Sainte-Adresse]] in [[Normandy]], France, and was buried at [[Le Havre]].<ref name="DNB"/>
+Robert Charles Dallas was educated at [[Musselburgh]], in Scotland, and under [[James Elphinston]] at [[Kensington]], London. He entered the [[Inner Temple]], but on coming of age went to Jamaica to take possession of the estates which he had inherited, and became an official there. After three years he visited England and married. He returned with his wife to Jamaica. He subsequently resigned his post and left Jamaica for the sake of his wife's health.<ref name="DNB"/>
+==Later life==
+Dallas lived on the continent of Europe, moving to the United States of America when the [[French Revolution]] occurred. He was disappointed in America and returned to England.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=7038|first=James|last=Watt|title=Dallas, Robert Charles}}</ref> He had sold the Dallas Castle estate on Jamaica by 1810.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651103|title=Summary of Individual, ''Robert Charles Dallas'' 1754–1824|publisher= Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> He died in autumn 1824 at [[Sainte-Adresse]], [[Normandy]], France, and was buried at [[Le Havre]].<ref name="DNB"/>
 ==Works==
-Dallas wrote a great deal: he said himself that he aimed to oppose the [[Jacobins]] and "confusion".<ref name="ODNB"/> He is best known, however, for a connection with [[Lord Byron]]. His sister Henrietta Charlotte was married to the Hon. George Anson Byron, uncle of Byron.<ref name="DNB"/>
+Dallas wrote a great deal: he said himself that he aimed to oppose the [[Jacobins]] and "confusion".<ref name="ODNB"/>
+===''The History of the Maroons'' (1803)===
-Dallas introduced himself to Byron by letter on the publication of ''[[Hours of Idleness]]'' (1807). Dallas saw something of Byron after the poet's return from the Near East, gave him literary advice, and communicated for him with publishers; Byron in recognition gave him copyright for some of ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'', and for ''[[The Corsair]]''..<ref name="DNB"/> But Dallas's didactic line palled, and Byron, after corresponding with Dallas in 1808–11, dropped him.<ref name="ODNB"/>
+[[File:CUDJOE MAKING PEACE WITH COLONEL JOHN GUTHRIE.jpg|thumb|"Old Cudjoe making peace", engraving from ''The History of the Maroons'' (1803)]]
+In 1803 Dallas contributed to the documentation of Jamaican history with ''The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone'', (2 vols). In part a general history of Jamaica, which was written by John Browne Cutting,<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Charles Dallas|title=The History of the Maroons: From Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone; Including the Expedition to Cuba ... : with a Succinct History of the Island; in Two Volumes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFw6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR10|year=1803|publisher=Longman and Rees|page=x}}</ref> the book concentrated on the [[Second Maroon War]] and the subsequent deportations of the [[Jamaican Maroons]] of [[Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town)]] to [[Nova Scotia]] and [[Sierra Leone]]. Dallas had accounts from William Dawes Quarrell, who accompanied Maroons to Nova Scotia, and may be the plantation owner of [[Hanover Parish]] of that name; and William Robertson, who had served in the war.<ref name="HigmanKnight1999">{{cite book|author1=B. W. Higman|author2=Franklin W. Knight|title=General History of the Caribbean: Methodology and historiography of the Caribbean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E12cpltazYgC&pg=PA481|date=1 January 1999|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103360-5|page=481}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146634298|title=Summary of Individual ''William Dawes Quarrell'', Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=4 March 2017}}</ref> [[James Robertson (FRS)|James Robertson]] the surveyor and cartographer made a map of the [[Cockpit Country]] for the book.<ref>{{cite book|author=B. W. Higman|title=Jamaica Surveyed: Plantation Maps and Plans of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_sPBnsQXV8C&pg=PA37|year=2001|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|isbn=978-976-640-113-9|page=37}}</ref>
+This work was published in a period when much public attention had been given over to the revolutionary events in Europe. The matter had previously been treated by [[Bryan Edwards (politician)|Bryan Edwards]] in an account first published in 1796.<ref name="AJRM">{{cite journal|title=Original criticism: The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone|journal=The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine|date=1803|volume=XV|issue=May 1803|pages=31–41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfnVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA31|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> Dallas expressed disapproval of slavery, but defended some government positions.<ref name="ODNB"/>
-Some letters addressed by Byron to his mother during his eastern travels were given to Dallas by Byron. Dallas, on the strength of these and other communications, prepared an account of Byron's life from 1808 to 1814. When Byron died, he proposed to publish it; but [[John Cam Hobhouse]] and John Hanson, Byron's executors, obtained an injunction from [[Lord Eldon]] against the publication of the letters. At this point Dallas died in France, and his son [[Alexander Dallas (priest)|Alexander Dallas]] published the book, ''Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from the year 1808 to the end of 1814''.<ref name="DNB"/>
+Dallas has been identified as also the author of the anonymous travel book ''A Short Journey in the West Indies'' (1790), mainly about Jamaica, which makes anti-slavery and anti-planter remarks.<ref name="Ashcroft">{{cite journal|last=Ashcroft|first=Michael|year=1975|title=Robert Charles Dalles identified as the author of an anonymous book about Jamaica|journal=Jamaica Journal|volume=9|issue=1|pages=94–101|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00090030/00035/96}}</ref> The ''[[Monthly Review (London)|Monthly Review]]'' commented that the author was cashing in on public interest in the slavery question, and had exaggerated the hardships.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Innes M. Keighren|author2=Charles W. J. Withers|author3=Bill Bell|title=Travels into Print: Exploration, Writing, and Publishing with John Murray, 1773-1859|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTDJBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA112|date=11 May 2015|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-23357-4|page=112}}</ref> [[James Stephen (British politician)|James Stephen]], who was aware of Dallas's authorship of ''A Short Journey'', regarded ''The History of the Maroons'' as a defence of slavery against his own book ''The Crisis of the Sugar Colonies'' (1802).<ref>{{cite book|author=James Stephen|author-link = James Stephen (British politician)|title=The Slavery of the British West India Colonies Delineated: Being a delineation of the state in point of law|url=https://archive.org/details/slaverybritishw00stepgoog|year=1824|publisher=J. Butterworth and Son|page=[https://archive.org/details/slaverybritishw00stepgoog/page/n437 351] note}}</ref>
-Dallas's other works included:<ref name="DNB"/>
+===''Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron''===
+Dallas is best known for a connection with [[Lord Byron]], and his ''Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from the year 1808 to the end of 1814'' appeared posthumously, by a tortuous route. His sister Henrietta Charlotte was married to the Hon. George Anson Byron, an uncle of Byron.<ref name="DNB"/>
+Dallas introduced himself to Byron by letter on the publication of ''[[Hours of Idleness]]'' (1807). Dallas saw something of Byron after the poet's return from the Near East, gave him literary advice, and communicated for him with publishers; Byron in recognition gave him copyright for some of ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'', and for ''[[The Corsair]]''.<ref name="DNB"/> But Dallas's didactic line palled, and Byron, after corresponding with Dallas in 1808–11, dropped him.<ref name="ODNB"/>
+Some letters addressed by Byron to his mother during his eastern travels were given to Dallas by Byron. Dallas, on the strength of these and other communications, prepared an account of Byron's life from 1808 to 1814.<ref name="DNB"/> He notified Byron in 1819 that the ''Recollections'' were finished, and would be published only after his own death.<ref name="LBT">{{cite web|url=http://www.lordbyron.org/contents.php?doc=RoDalla.1824.Contents|title=Robert Charles Dallas: ''Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron'': Contents|accessdate=4 March 2017}}</ref>
+When Byron died in April 1824, Dallas proposed to publish the ''Recollections''. On the grapevine (via Byron's aunt Julia Heath) [[Augusta Leigh]], Byron's half-sister who was dealing with a number of would-be biographers, heard of the plan and objected strongly. Dallas won over George Anson Byron, his brother-in-law.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Michael Bakewell|author2=Melissa Bakewell|title=Augusta Leigh, Byron's Half Sister: A Biography|year=2000|publisher=Chatto & Windus|isbn=978-0-18-561975-4|pages=295–7}}</ref> [[John Cam Hobhouse]] and John Hanson, Byron's executors, obtained an injunction from [[John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon|Lord Eldon]] against the publication of the letters.<ref name="DNB"/> Extracts from the ''Recollections'' appeared in ''The Courier'', in November 1824, but about a month behind [[Thomas Medwin]]'s ''Conversations of Lord Byron''.<ref name="LBT"/>
+By the time of the ''Courier'' publication, Dallas had returned to France and died.<ref name="ODNB"/> There was a French version, and his son [[Alexander Dallas (priest)|Alexander Dallas]] had the book published in 1825, in Paris, beyond the English court's jurisdiction, if also much changed.<ref name="LBT"/>
+===Other works===
+Dallas's other works included:<ref name="DNB"/>
 * ''Miscellaneous Writings, consisting of Poems; Lucretia, a Tragedy; and Moral Essays, with a Vocabulary of the Passions'', 1797.
 * ''Percival, or Nature Vindicated'', 4 vols. 1801, novel.
 * ''Elements of Self-Knowledge'' (compiled and partly written by Dallas), 1802.
-* ''History of the Maroons, from their Origin to their Establishment in Sierra Leone'', 2 vols. 1803.
 * ''Aubrey'', 4 vols. 1804, novel.
 * ''The Marlands, Tales illustrative of the Simple and Surprising'', 4 vols. 1805.
@@ Line 31: / Line 52: @@
 * ''Letter to C. Butler relative to the New Conspiracy'', 1817.
 * ''Sir Francis Darrell, or the Vortex'', 4 vols. 1820, novel.
 * ''Adrastus, a Tragedy; Amabel, or the Cornish Lovers; and other Poems'', 1823.
-His ''Miscellaneous Works and Novels'', in 7 vols., were published in 1813..<ref name="DNB"/>
+His ''Miscellaneous Works and Novels'', in 7 vols., were published in 1813.<ref name="DNB"/>
 ==Family==
-Dallas married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Harding of Hacton House, Essex; Rev. Alexander Robert Charles Dallas was their son.<ref name="ODNB"/> Harding was a slave-owner in Jamaica, whose will had been proved in 1766.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146637324|title=Summary of Individual, ''Benjamin Harding'', ????–1766, Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref>
+Dallas married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Harding of Hacton House, Essex; Rev. [[Alexander Dallas (priest)|Alexander Robert Charles Dallas]] was their son.<ref name="ODNB"/> Harding was a slave-owner in Jamaica, whose will had been proved in 1766.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146637324|title=Summary of Individual, ''Benjamin Harding'', ????–1766, Legacies of British Slave-ownership|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref>
 ==Notes==
@@ Line 43: / Line 64: @@
 ;Attribution
 {{DNB|wstitle=Dallas, Robert Charles|volume=13}}
+{{authority control}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dallas, Robert Charles}}
 [[Category:1754 births]]
 [[Category:1824 deaths]]
-[[Category:Jamaican writers]]
+[[Category:Colony of Jamaica people]]
 [[Category:18th-century Jamaican poets]]
-[[Category:19th-century poets]]
+[[Category:19th-century British poets]]
 [[Category:Jamaican male poets]]
-[[Category:British writers]]
+[[Category:British male poets]]
+[[Category:19th-century Jamaican poets]]
+[[Category:18th-century British male writers]]

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