Life

Yeowell was born about 1803 in London. He is said to have been employed in early life under the vestry

Vestry

A vestry is a room in or attached to a church or synagogue in which the vestments, vessels, records, etc., are kept , and in which the clergy and choir robe or don their vestments for divine service....

 of Shoreditch

Shoreditch

Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...

, and to have worked at indexing and related work for booksellers. Soon after the establishment by William John Thoms of Notes and Queries

Notes and Queries

Notes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...

, Yeowell became sub-editor, and he filled the position for more than twenty years, retiring in September 1872. During this period Yeowell supplied by research at the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 the answers which appeared each week under the heading of ‘Queries with Answers.’ He lived at first in Pentonville

Pentonville

Pentonville is an area of north-central London in the London Borough of Islington, centred on the Pentonville Road. The area is named after Henry Penton, who developed a number of streets in the 1770s in what was open countryside adjacent to the New Road...

, near the Sadler's Wells Theatre

Sadler's Wells Theatre

Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...

, and then at Barnsbury

Barnsbury

Barnsbury is an area of north London in the London Borough of Islington, in the N1 postal districts.The name is a corruption of villa de Iseldon Berners , being so called after the Berners family: powerful medieval manorial lords who gained ownership of a large part of Islington after the Norman...

.

On his retirement from ‘Notes and Queries’ he was nominated a poor brother at the London Charterhouse

London Charterhouse

The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Smithfield, London dating back to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square. The Charterhouse began as a Carthusian priory, founded in 1371 and dissolved in 1537...

 by the Duke of Buccleuch

Duke of Buccleuch

The title Duke of Buccleuch , formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, was created in the Peerage of Scotland on 20 April 1663 for the Duke of Monmouth, who was the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II of Scotland, England, and Ireland and who had married Anne Scott, 4th Countess of Buccleuch.Anne...

 at the suggestion of Thoms. He died at the Charterhouse on 10 December 1875, being buried in Highgate cemetery on 14 Dec. He was ‘probably the last nonjuror, if not the last Jacobite, in England’

Works

Yeowell was the author of:

• ‘Chronicles of the Ancient British Church anterior to the Saxon Era,’ new ed. 1847; it originally appeared during 1839 in a monthly periodical.
• ‘A Literary Antiquary: Memoir of William Oldys, with his Diary, Notes from Adversaria, and an Account of the London Libraries,’ 1862; this came out in ‘Notes and Queries’ during 1861 and 1862.

He edited in 1853 the poetical works of Sir Thomas Wyatt and of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Henry Howard, KG, , known as The Earl of Surrey although he never was a peer, was an English aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry.-Life:...

 for the Aldine series; compiled, with other index work, the general indexes to the first three series of ‘Notes and Queries,’ and an index to Agnes Strickland

Agnes Strickland

Agnes Strickland was an English historical writer and poet.-Biography:The daughter of Thomas Strickland of Reydon Hall, Suffolk, Agnes was educated by her father, and began her literary career with a poem, Worcester Field, followed by The Seven Ages of Woman and Demetrius...

's ‘Queens of England;’ and he assisted Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke

Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke

Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke , known as Richard Neville until 1797 and as the Hon. Richard Griffin between 1797 and 1825, was a British Whig politician and literary figure.-Background and education:...

 in the fourth edition of the Diary of Samuel Pepys (1854).

Legacy

Yeowell's books were sold with other collections by Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge on 12 November 1873 and five following days. His collections for the biography of Englishmen went to the British Museum; they consisted of eleven folio volumes, thirty-seven octavo volumes, and eight parcels.