Claude Prance is best known for
his books of essays. Most of the work
published in these books is based on his own collection of English
literature of the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, but
including collections on the British theatre, natural history and
cricket. His interest in English literature was kindled by an American
schoolmaster at St.John's College but most of his free time from his
early life with the Midalnd Bank was devoted to professional
examinations. When these were over he was free to use his leisure for
one of his main interests and began to send essays and articles on
English literature, mainly of the early nineteenth century, to a
variety of journals. He acquired a fine collection of rejection slips!
Gradually some of his essays began to appear in magazines in England,
the U.S.A., and later in Malta and Australia. Eventually he collected
some of these and his first book of essays, Peppercorn Papers, appeared
in 1965,when he was still working for the Bank. Later volumes were The
Laughing Philosopher, 1976, Index to the London Magazine (with Dr.Frank
Riga), 1978 Companion to Charles Lamb, 1983, E.V.Lucas and his Books,
1988, Essays of a book Collector, 1989, and The Characters in the
Novels of Thomas Love Peacock, 1992.
He has been a member of the
Charles Lamb Society since 1936 and a
vice-President since 1983, is a keen collector of books and his library
exceeds 8,000 volumes. He is also a member of the Private Libraries
Association, The Bookplate Society, The Society for Theatrical
Research, The Selbourne Society, The Keats-Shelley Association of
America, and the Book Collectors' Society of Australia.
Claude Prance was born in
Portsmouth, England in 1906 and was educated
at the Philological School and St.John's College, both in Southsea. At
seventeen he entered the Midland Bank for which he worked for the major
part of his life reaching managerial level.. In 1941 he was
commissioned in the Royal Air Force and in 1942 served overseas for
three years and saw service in North Africa and the Middle East. After
the war he resumed his career with the Midland Bank and held a position
in the Bank's Intelligence Department at its head office in Poultry,
London. Later most of his work was with Public Relations also at head
office. On retirement at the age of sixty he and his wife Patricia nee
Searle whom he married in 1932 went to live on the Maltese island of
Gozo. Patricia is the great grand-daughter of John Linnell, the
well-known 19th century painter and friend of William Blake. They
became friends with a number of writers living on Gozo where they
stayed for fourteen years before extensive travels to Russia, India,
Singapore, Hong Kong and finally Australia where the family finally
settled near Canberra. Claude and Patricia celebrated their diamond
wedding in 1992. His two children are Romaine Linnell (nee Prance) born
16.5.35 and Jon Prance born 18.1.39.
Claude Prance springs from the North Devon branch of the family and is
a descendant of John Prance of Peppercombe 1789-1871.
