• Name: Rickman, John
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 22  August  1771
• Death Date: 11  August  1840
• Occupation: statistician
• Occupation: civil servant

There are two Rickmans -
> John Rickman, who directed the first national census in 1801 revealing the growth in population. J Rickman appears in 1805.
Thomas Clio Rickman was a bookseller and the author of a sympathetic Life of Thomas Paine (1819). Paine had stayed with Rickman in 1791-2 while writing the second part of Rights of Man (1792).

T C Rickman's are coded as Thomas and most other Rickman's as John. There are independent grounds in most instances that confirm the identification.

T C Rickman is recorded in the 1796 list of first acquaintance for 1803. Godwin's first entry for John Rickman is an adv at Lamb's on 27 November 1800. According to Lucas's Life of Lamb, Lamb first met John Rickman shortly before 3 November 1800 - with Rickman living 'in our Buildings, immediately opposite our house'. They were introduced by George Dyer and the next entry is Godwin supping at Rickman's with Lamb and Dyer (3 December 1800). At the end of December the same year the three sup at Lamb's. Early entries in 1801 seem also to be to John, and are linked to Lamb and also to Tobin and Sir Humphrey Davy.

On 2 July 1801 'A W and T C Rickman call', the latter being Thomas Clio Rickman, and references for the rest of the year are to T C Rickman (in 1801 John Rickman had been made secretary to Charles Abbot MP and accompanied him to Ireland when he was made Chief Secretary.) On 21 January 1802 T C Rickman writes to Godwin praising Reply to Parr, saying he thinks he concedes too much, suggesting Political Justice should be cirulated more widely as a cheap edition and saying he will send copies of the Reply to Paine and to Lofft.

The entry for 23 January 1803, 'call on Lamb; adv. Rickman' is almost certainly John. In 1804, references are either to T C Rickman or to Rickman whom he encounters at Lamb's and Tobin's. In 1805, Godwin seems to use T C Richman in distinction to Richman (who stands for John); but there is also one entry to J Richter (who we ought to presume is John - and is the first case of Godwin calling on him without others).

In 1808 the vast majority of entries are 'Write to Rickman' and so lack the context to be certain of identification, but it seems likely that they are to John Rickman. Afrer writing one such letter he calls on Mrs Rickman. John Rickman had married Susannah Postlethwaite in 1805, and while Clio Rickman was also married, this seems to be in relation to John Rickman.

The 1809 entry is associated with Lamb, and the 1811 entry in 'Hear Rickman' which seems most likely to refer to John. 30 September 1813 there is the first sign of a link between Francis Place and Rickman, 'call on Place , pro Rickman', and we know that John Rickman was linked to Place. The later entry in this year has no contextual clues, but we have assumed it is for John.

1814 entries are all correspondence; in 1815 there is a 'Call on Rickman (bill-broker)' - given that 'bill-broker' appears in parentheses rather than after a comma which is the way Godwin usually denotes professions, it has been treated as a topic and Rickman has been taken as John; a further Rickman in 1815 has been coded for John. In 1818 he writes to J Rickman around the time he is reading Rickman on population.

In 1819 T Ht (Tom Holcroft) calls on Rickman and both T Ht and Godwin attend a lecture by Rickman on population. (Tom Holcroft was Thomas's son and seems to have had a post under Rickman in the House of Commons, from which Rickman dismissed him in 1819, causing some concern and anger at the Lambs, and probably with Godwin).

There is then a break in contact until 1831, but the contact after this time does seem to be with John Rickman. See, eg., Letter from John Rickman to Godwin, 17 February 1831, which concurs with Diary entries; and another from 18 March 1835 inviting Godwin to dinner on 28 March 1835 (which Godwin attends).

Thomas Clio Rickman dies in 1834, and the entries for Rickman continue until 1835. 23 February 1834 has an entry for Rickman (Bill), which is opaque. It could be that Godwin is speaking to Rickman about a Parliamentary Bil, but there is nothing else in the Diary to suggest that he is concerned with a Parliamentary Bill at this time. It seems odd that bill should have a capital letter, but it might be safest to decode this entry as referring to the same individual as in 1815 when he refers to Rickman (bill-broker).

In 1833, 1834, 1835 and 1836 there are also entries for Mrs Rickman (7), Mrs and Miss (1), and Mrs and A Rickman (1). These are not currently coded, but are likely to refer to Rickman's family - he had a son and two daughters. There is a Chas Rickman in 1835 who may be Rickman's son, but he is not coded.

• MS. Abinger c. 7, fols. 87-8: 21 January 1802.
• MS. Abinger c. 9, fols. 18-19: 18 June 1805.
• MS. Abinger c. 9, fol. 19v: 19 June 1805.
• MS. Abinger c. 14, fols. 47-8: 18 March 1835.
• MS. Abinger c. 10, fols. 73-4: 28 June 1808.
• MS. Abinger c. 10, fols. 69-72: 27 June 1808.
• MS. Abinger c. 14, fol. 17: 19 July 1833.
• MS. Abinger c. 14, fol. 6: 17 February 1831.
• DNB
• E.V. Lucas, The Life of Charles Lamb, 2 vols (1905, 7th edn. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1921) pp. 226-7 and 519.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.