Born in Dublin on 24 January 1709, William Chaigneau spent his professional life as an army agent in Ireland. His claim to literary fame rests on a single, highly regarded novel,

The History of Jack Connor

(1752). A sentimental picaresque fiction, influenced by the work of Le Sage, Fielding, and Smollett,

Jack Connor

is characteristic of the often experimental prose fiction written in Great Britain and Ireland in the 1750s, while looking forward to future developments in the novel.

Chaigneau was, for most of his life, a resident of the Irish capital, where members of his family were prominent in the Huguenot community that had settled there after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), which removed the religious and civil rights accorded French Protestants in 1598. In Ireland, the

1645 words

Citation: Ross, Ian Campbell. "William Chaigneau". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 July 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13364, accessed 29 March 2024.]

13364 William Chaigneau 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.