John Hoole

Hoole was born in Moorfields, London, and was educated at a private school at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, kept by a James Bennet.

[2] At the age of seventeen John Hoole became a clerk in India House (1744–83), of which he rose to be principal auditor of Indian accounts.

[1] In connection with his post, he wrote Present State of the English East India Company's Affairs (1772).

[4] Hoole was a genial character, but termed as a translator not unfairly by Sir Walter Scott as "a noble transmuter of gold into lead".

[5] David Barclay of Youngsbury turned to Hoole to write the biography of his friend John Scott of Amwell, when Johnson, his first choice, died before he could do so.