Description

Doran (1807-78) was a London born editor and writer of Irish parentage who wrote a number of books on various subjects including manners, social history, royalty and the aristocracy. He edited Horace Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III, and among other posts he was for a short time editor of The Athenaeum. His father had acquired a knowledge of French, having been captured and held in France for some years, and passed this knowledge on to his son. It was his ability to speak the language that earned Doran an appointment as tutor to the eldest son of James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon, in 1823 and he travelled on the continent for five years with his pupil. From 1828-37 he took on further tutoring positions and after giving up the last of these he travelled in Europe for two or three years and took a doctor's degree in the faculty of philosophy at the University of Marburg in Prussia. After his return to England he became literary editor of the Church and State Gazette from 1841-52, later taking on the editorship of The Athenaeum and Notes and Queries. During the 1850s he published a series of popular works, including this History of Court Fools which appeared in 1858.