• Name: Vaughan,
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date:
• Death Date:

Several of these entries probably relate to Samuel Vaughan (1720–1802), a London merchant, and his son Benjamin Vaughan, (1751–1835), diplomatist and political reformer. It is not possible to be sure which is being indicated, and the presence of other Vaughans adds additional complications.

In the 1796 notes Godwin indicates that he meets meet Samuel Vaughan (the father of Benjamin) who dies in 1802, in 1782; he notes (in the 1796 list in the diary) meeting B. Vaughan in 1779; and he notes meeting Felix Vaughan (1766-1799) in 1793. He also notes meeting W Vaughan in 1790, 1792, and then 1814, 1818, and 1821 There are separate codes for each of: Felix, William and W H Vaughan which are used when the initials are used, or, more exceptionally, where it is thought that the contact indicates that it is a particular Vaughan (as in the Vaughan at the Treason Trials, where Felix would have been present and Benjamin out of the country). Early entries of Vaughan are coded generically under this codename; all F Vaughan are coded as Felix Vaughan, and with Felix Vaughan being used for Vaughan entries if we have independent corroboration of his presence, (as at the Treason Trials). We believe that some Vaughans without initial are Benjamin Vaughan; some may be Samuel Vaughan, and some may be Felix Vaughan. It is possible that William Vaughan might also be entered without an initial on some occasions. The early W Vaughan entries are coded as William Vaughan. The later ones may well be W H Vaughan’s and we are coded as such. We do not have a plausible Vaughan for entries between 1807 and 1812, and the continuation of plain Vaughan after this date suggests that these refer to another person and so these are also coded as VAU99.

Samuel Vaughan (1720–1802), was an active reformer as a member of the Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights in the 1760s and a friend of John Wilkes and John Horne Tooke. He was also a member of the Club of Honest Whigs, the meetings of which Benjamin sometimes attended, whereby he associated with the likes of Priestley, Richard Price, and James Burgh.

Vaughan, Benjamin (1751–1835), was the eldest of eleven children of Samuel Vaughan (1720–1802), Educated at Hackney and Warrington with his brother William under Joseph Priestley, he became acquainted with Benjamin Franklin in 1767. Lord Shelburne employed him as an adviser and private secretary, notably in Paris during the Anglo-American peace negotiations of 1782–3. In 1783 Vaughan returned to London; he entertained on a regular basis reform-minded men like Price, Priestley, Thomas Paine, and Samuel Romilly. Aftyer 1789, he made a number of visits to Paris and he wrote a number of reform orientated pamphlets. Elected MP for Calne, he barely spoke in the House. In May 1794, following the arrest of William Stone and the seizure of his correspondence Vaughan was summoned in to appear before the privy council. He fled to France eventually joing his family in 1797 in America. Godwin notes meeting B(enjamin) Vaughan in 1779 (1796 journal list), but he has left the country by May 1794. Nonetheless, it is possible that some 1793 and 1794 entries refer to Benjamin rather than to Felix (and we have accordingly left the issue open by coding them as VAU99).

Felix Vaughan (Mark Philp, Godwin’s Political Justice, p. 244) 1766-1799, helped to draft LCS regulations. He was one of Horne Tooke’s defence counsel (St Clair), and a defender of Eaton. Thought by some to be the illegitimate son of Tooke, but there is no evidence to support this; but he was very close to Tooke and left him his money when he died young in 1799. He also travelled widely in France in the early years of the French Revolution returning to England in 1793.

W Vaughan – entered as such in the 1790s and also in the 1820s, is probably William Vaughan, (1752–1850), promoter of the London docks, the second son of Samuel Vaughan (1720–1802)

W H Vaughan seems to be distinct – probably Vaughan, William Hasleham County: London Town: London Address(es): Orange Ct, Soho Book Trades: Stationer Non-Book Trade: Trading Dates: 1818 - 1830 Biographical Dates: 1818 (before) - 1830 This suggests that the early entries to Vaughan are likely to be to B or S (most likely B?) – and that F Vaughan and W Vaughan would be used disjunctively until at least May 1794, when B Vaughan has left the country. If, however, B Vaughan is the default, tthere are a number of plain Vaughan’s after May 1794 that are simply not accounted for. Between 1798 and 1807 no Vaughan’s are recorded – and the Vaughans recorded after seem to be on a different footing – they call on Godwin or are called on by him. This could mean that there is a further Vaughan, seen on a regular basis between the 1807 and 1820, from which occasional meetings with W Vaughan are then distinguished. However, the evidence from the Diary suggests that the 1812 W H Vaughan is a reference to the stationer, and further references after 1814 given as W Vaughan, may also be references to him, given that they are associated with others who could be people in the publishing and bookselling industry (eg: Hunter, Miles, Murray, R Sharp, Sturmy, O Rees). But it is unlikely that this Vaughan accounts for the plain ‘Vaughan’s’ between 1807 and 1818, since the introduction of W H Vaughan in 1812 suggests otherwise.

Finally, there is a puzzle about the Mrs Vaughan who stays during Mary Wollstoncrafts labour, and who may, or may not, be related to the Vaughan family and about PVwho appears immediately after Mrs Vaughan. Clemit's edition of Godwin's Letters, Volume 1, suggests that PV refers to Petty Vaughan, the third son of Benjamin and Sarah Vaughan, and while this is possible it is also possible that Mrs Vaughan is in fact PV, since when she ceases to appear in the diary the initials appear for the first time. In the July of 1797, Godwin seems to have read Vaughan's Letters, possibly from Addington (who calls the previous day, and to whom he refers in a note to Wollstonecraft saying he does not mean to return them to him today (4 July 1797). We have coded these as Benjamin Vaughan's Letters on France and Poland, but this must be open to doubt. Godwin reads the letters regularly until 7 July and only finally finishes them on 25 July. While reading them he also has entries on 6 July, 19 July and 18th August 'Write to V' (and on the latter he also refers again to the Letters). This suggests that he is compiling a long letter to Vaughan on the Letters, which he did not complete until mid-August. But the identification of the text sits uncomfortably with the suggestion that these are in fact Mrs Vaughan's Letters, lent by Addington - which is the upshot of Wollstonecraft and Godwin's exchange on 4 July 1797. But, if these are indeed Mrs Vaughan's letters, it seems very unlikely that she is Sarah Vaughan, (Benjamin's wife), since the evidence points to her being in America in July. Moreover, there is nothing to suggest that she has much connection with the Vaughan family

• DNB
• The British Book Trade Index
• Mark Philp, Godwin’s Political Justice (London: Duckworth, 1986)
• Pamela Clemit, ed., The Letters of Wiliam Godwin Volume 1 1778-1797, Oxford, 2011
• St Clair

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