John Howard Payne (1791-1852), American playwright and actor, was songwriter of "Home Sweet Home." Payne was born in East Hampton, New York, where his first play, Julia or The Wanderer was staged when he was only 14, followed by a successful adaptation of August von Kotzebue's Lover's Vows when he was 18.
Early Years: Delightful Childhood
Though in later years Payne literally became the "homeless bard of home" more by choice, the Payne children enjoyed a happy childhood. They had the advantage of a cultured society even when the family later moved from Long Island to Boston, where the father became a distinguished teacher.
As a boy, Payne's talents cropped out when he published poems and sketches in the The Fly, a paper edited by Samuel Woodworth.
Aged 13, Payne became a clerk in a mercantile house in New York. He secretly edited a paper, Thespian Mirror. The publisher was impressed and sent young Payne to Union College at his own expense. His career suddenly closed with his mother's death and his father's financial problems.
Playwrighting and Acting Career in London
Payne decided to try the stage to help his family. He was acting in Boston when his father died. He soon sailed for England, and appeared in Drury Lane Theatre. He worked on Trial without Jury, an adaptation from the French known by its alternative title The Maid and the Magpie, followed by several others.
In 1820, having failed as manager of Sadler's Wells Theatre, he was imprisoned for debt. The successful production of Thérese: The Orphan of Geneva, which he wrote in prison, bought his release. He settled in Paris.
Clari, The Maid of Milan, "Home Sweet Home"
The success of his play Clari, The Maid of Milan (1823), which contains the famous 'Home Sweet Home', set to music by Sir Henry Bishop, encouraged him to return to London, where he collaborated on some plays with Washington Irving.
Back to London
He edited a London dramatic paper called The Opera Glass. Payne was much praised, but led an unhappy life. He wrote several successful dramas, and his tragedy of "Brutus," written for Edmund Kean, is still played occasionally.
While Charles Kemble was manager of Covent Garden Theatre, he bought a quantity of Payne's writings. Among them was a play entitled Clari, the Maid of Milan. At Kemble's request, he altered this play into an opera, and introduced into it the words of "Home, Sweet Home." It enriched all those who handled it, except the author himself.
Back to New York
Payne returned to New York in 1832. He wrote little more, but collected voluminous notes on the Cherokee Indians, unpublished during his lifetime. Grant Forman edited Indian Justice: A Cherokee Murder Trial in 1834.
Payne as American Consul at Tunis
In 1841, he received the appointment of American Consul at Tunis. He died there 11 years later. It took 31 years (1883) before Payne's remains were brought to the US, lain in New York state, then taken to Washington and entombed, with appropriate ceremonies.
Trivia
With due consideration for his career sorrows, it was Payne himself, the educated youth, who turned away from his home and associations, and voluntarily attached to the fortunes of a class of literary adventurers who lived by their wits.
John Howard Payne is a distant cousin of Carrie Jacobs-Bond, famous for her song "I Love You Truly" and "A Perfect Day." The music of "Home Sweet Home" has been primarily agreed upon as a Sicilian air adapted by Sir Henry Rowley Bishop. Donizetti slightly altered it in his opera Anna Bolena.
Excerpt from "Home Sweet Home"
'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!
Sources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, by Ian Ousby (1993)
The World's Best Music, Philharmonic Edition, Revised and enlarged, The Oceanic Publishing company, The University society, Inc (1907)
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