Born in Cheltenham (Rodney Lodge).1,2

Son of William Payn, Clerk to the Thames Commissioners and Treasurer for Berks, of Kidwells, Cheltenham

Educated Cambridge, Trinity.1

Admitted

Occupation Student at Trinity College.3

Recorded in census in Cambridge (St Mary Street, 1).3

In lodgings

President of the Union in Cambridge University.1

Qualification in Cambridge University.1

B.A.

Married Louisa Adelaide EDLIN in Wantage, West Isley Parish Church.38,1,39,40

From the Marriage Certificate :-
1) Licence or banns - Blank
2) Vicar - John S Utterton
3) Witnesses - William Yool, Harriett L Emberson, & 2 illegible
4) Bride - Louisa Adelaide Edlin, 23, spinster, West Isley
5) Father of the bride - Edward Colsill Edlin, gentleman
6) Groom - James Payn, 24, bachelor, gentleman, West Isley
7) Father of the groom - William Payn, gentleman

From the Morning Chronicle :-
"On the 28th ult., at West Isley, Berks, James, youngest son of the late W. Payn, Esq., of Kidwells, Maidenhead, to Louisa Adelaide, daughter of the late E. C. Edlin, Esq., of Mortlake, Surrey."

Birth of daughter Harriet Frances PAYN in Kendal.18,19

Birth of daughter Effie PAYN in Marylebone.22

Birth of daughter Alicia Isobel PAYN in Hastings.23

Birth of daughter Mabel PAYN in Scotland, Edinburgh.25

Career.1

Editor of Chamber's Journal

Occupation Writer of fiction.4

Recorded in census in Scotland, St Andrew (Edinburgh, Claremont Avenue, 17).4

Head of household
Staff x 5
Visitor - Cecilia Henrietta Edlin - annotated as "Sister in law"

Birth of daughter Jessie Adelaide PAYN in Kensington.26

Birth of daughter Lilian PAYN in Kensington.27

Birth of son Maurice Ranken PAYN in Kensington.30

Death of son Maurice Ranken PAYN in Cricklade.28,29

Birth of daughter Nina Sybil PAYN in Kensington.33

Death of daughter Nina Sybil PAYN in Cambridge.31,32

Birth of daughter Madeline PAYN in Kensington.34

Birth of son George Frederick PAYN in Kensington.35,36

Recorded in census in Kensington, St Mary Paddington (Maida Vale, Warrington Crescent, 43).5

Head of household
Staff x 8

Career.1

Reader to Smith, Elder & Co, publishers

Birth of son Neville James PAYN in Kensington.37

Witness at wedding in Kensington, St Michael and All Angels Paddington, Market Street.6

Of Edward William Beal & Amy Louisa Edlin

Death of daughter Mabel PAYN in Kensington.24

Occupation Author Novelist.7

Recorded in census in Kensington, St Mary Paddington (Maida Vale, Warrington Crescent, 43).7

Head of household
Staff x 7

Career.1

Editor of the Cornhill Magazine

Witness at wedding in Paddington, St Saviours, Warwick Street.8

Of Alicia Isobel Payn & George Earle Buckle

Witness at wedding in Paddington, St Saviours, Warwick Street.9

Of Lilian Payn & Thomas Colpitts Granger

Death of daughter Effie PAYN in Paddington.20,21

Occupation Author.10

Recorded in census in Paddington, St Mary Paddington, Paddington Green (Maida Vale, Warrington Crescent, 43).10

Head of household
Staff x 6

Newspapers.11

From the Dundee Evening Telegraph :-
"JAMES PAYN, THE NOVELIST.
Mr. James PAYN, the distinguished novelist and editor of Cornhill Magazine, whom we announced yesterday as being seriously unwell, lives in rather luxurious style in Warrington Gardens, Maida Vale. He is a noted wit, and something of an epicure. It was as editor of Chamber's Journal many years ago that Mr. Payn first made his mark. It was in that periodical that his best known work, "Lost Sir Massingberd", first appeared. The tragic idea on which this was founded - that of a gentleman dropping into the hollow of an oak tree in his own park, and being slowly starved to death - occurred says the Morning in real life in America many years after the story was written. Nature, Mr. Payn declared, had plagiarised from him. Mr. Payn's reputation for wit was acquired early. When he first went to a public school he was asked by a supercilious young gentleman, "What might you name be?" "It might be Beelzebub," was his reply, "but it isn't."

Obituary.16

The Times - Death of Mr. James Payn

Died in Paddington (Warrington Crescent).13,14,1,2,15

From the Times :-
On the 25th inst., at Warrington-crescent, W., JAMES PAYN, in his 69th year.

Buried.17

Funeral at St Saviours, Warrington Crescent, followed by burial at Paddington Cemetery
Amongst  those present were :- the authors - Henry James, Conan Doyle, Stanley Weyman, Rider Haggard.

Probate in London, Principal Registry.15

Of 43 Warrington Crescent
Executors :-
Matthias Boyce, solicitor
Alfred James Emberson, Stock-broker
Estate - £8,367, 9s, 5d.

Occupation Author.9,8

Information from :-
1885 - Marriage Certificate of Alicia Isobel Payn & George Earle Buckle
1886 - Marriage Certificate of Lilian Payn & Thomas Colpitts Granger

Cambridge University Alumni in Cambridge, Trinity.1

"Entered : 1849
Adm. pens (age 19) at Trinity, June 27, 1849; from the royal Military Academy, Woolwich. S. of William (Clerk to the Thames Commissioners and Treasurer for Berks.). of Kidwells, Maidenhead, Berks. B. (Feb. 28, 1830), at Cheltenham. (School, Eton). Matric. Michs. 1849; B.A. 1853. President of the Union, 1852. Reader to Smith, Elder and co., publishers, 1874. Contributor to Household Words. Editor of Chamber's journal, 1859-74, and The Cornhill Magazine, 1883-96. Married, Feb. 28, 1854, Louisa Adelaide Edlin. Author, Poems; Some private Views, Gleams of Memory, etc. and of numerous novels. Much influenced by Dickens. Resided in Maida Vale, London. Died Mar. 25, 1898."

ODNB.12

For more information see his entry in the online edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography :-
Damian Atkinson,
"Payn, James (1830-1898)"
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
Oxford University Press, 2004;
Online edn, Oct 2008
http://www.oxforddnp.com/view/article/21740