William Jeffrey Prowse

Who was William Jeffrey Prowse?

William Jeffrey Prowse, often known as Jeff Prowse was an English journalist, poet, humorist and lyricist. An only child born in Torquay, Devon, he resided with his uncle, shipbroker John Sparke Prowse in Greenwich, following the death of his father in 1844 when Prowse aged eight, and inherited from his mother Marianne Jeffrey - who "contributed to the annuals, and published a volume of poems" - her literary skills. His mother would die in 1850. Prowse, a "journalist of great brilliancy and power", contributed to Chambers' Journal, Ladies' Companion, National Magazine and the Aylesbury News, before writing for the Daily Telegraph when covering the Oxford Cambridge boat races. Prowse was also noted for his affection for polar expeditions and cricket - and is known for his seven verse eulogy for Alfred Mynn.

Prowse died in Nice on Easter Day, 17 April 1870. Thomas Hay Sweet Escott called him "the last of the highly-gifted Bohemians of London." The majority of his poems were published after his death in a volume entitled Nicholas Notes edited by Tom Hood, and in 1890 the Nation remembered the work as "yet a delight to the few who recall its pleasant humour."