John Hawkins (author)

Sir John Hawkins (29 March 1719 – 21 May 1789) was an English author and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson and Horace Walpole.

He married Sidney Storer in 1753 and retired from all professional vocations in 1759 after his wife had received a large inheritance due to the death of her brother.

It took Hawkins 16 years to write A General History of the Science and Practice of Music which was published in 1776.

Although this publication was somewhat respected, it soon was overshadowed, with the help of the likes such as Dr Callcott who composed a mocking song against Hawkins,[3] by Charles Burney's General History of Music (1776–89).

This has been largely eclipsed, except for specialists, by the far longer and more colourful work (with the same title) published by James Boswell four years later.