Life

Born in humble circumstances, he was an autodidact scholar who learnt to speak French by frequenting Slaughter's Coffee House. He had enough acquaintance with Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

 that he could dedicate to him in 1734 his translation of Charles Porée's Oration. His inoffensive character procured for him the name of the ‘Lamb.’ but when ‘Hesiod’ Cooke

Thomas Cooke (author)

Thomas Cooke , often called "Hesiod" Cooke, was a very active English translator and author who ran afoul of Alexander Pope and was mentioned as one of the "dunces" in Pope's Dunciad. His father was an inn keeper, and Cooke arrived in London in 1722 and began working as a writer for the Whig causes...

 abused his poetry, Lockman retorted, ‘It may be so; but, thank God! my name is not at full length in the “Dunciad.”’

His poems were chiefly occasional verse intended to be set to music for Vauxhall

Vauxhall

-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...

. In 1762 he tried, fruitlessly, to get them printed by subscription. He frequently went to court to present his verses to the royal family, and after he became secretary to the British Herring Fishery he tendered gifts of pickled herrings. Both poems and herrings, he declared, were ‘most graciously accepted.’

He died in Brownlow Street, Long Acre

Long Acre

Long Acre is a street in central London, England. Starting from St. Martin's Lane it runs from west to east just north of Covent Garden piazza, one block north of Floral Street. The street was completed in the early 17th century. It was once known for its coach-makers, and later for its car dealers...

, on 2 February 1771, leaving a widow, Mary.

Works

Lockman worked on the General Dictionary, Historical and Critical

General Dictionary, Historical and Critical

The General Dictionary, Historical and Critical was a biographical dictionary published from 1734 to 1741 in London in 10 volumes. It derived from the Dictionnaire historique et critique of Pierre Bayle, already translated into English in 1710 by Pierre des Maizeaux as An Historical and Critical...

including a life of Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (poet)

Samuel Butler was a poet and satirist. Born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613, he is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical burlesque poem on Puritanism entitled Hudibras.-Biography:...

. He translated many French works, including Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

's ‘Age of Louis XIV,’ and ‘Henriade;’ Marivaux's ‘Pharamond;’ and Le Sage

Alain-René Lesage

Alain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas .-Youth and education:Claude Lesage, the father of the novelist, held the united...

's ‘Bachelor of Salamanca.’

Lockman is also the translator of Voltaire's "Letters concerning the English Nation" (London, 1733). The work was first thought to have been partially written by Voltaire himself, in English, in the years following his stay in that country from 1726-28. The hypothesis, posed by Harcourt Brown, was debunked by J. Patrick Lee in his essay, "The Unexamined Premise" (2001). He established that the entire "Letters" had in fact been written in French and then translated into English.
He also published:

• ‘The Charms of Dishabille; or, New Tunbridge Wells at Islington,’ a song, (London, 1733?).
• ‘David's Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan. A Lyric Poem,’ London, 1736; 5th edit. 1740.
• ‘Rosalinda, a Musical Drama …’ with an inquiry into the history of operas and oratorios, London, 1740. It was set to music by John Christopher Smith
  John Christopher Smith
  John Christopher Smith [Johann Christoph Schmidt] was an English composer who, following in his father's footsteps, became George Frederic Handel's secretary and amanuensis.-Life:...
  
  , and performed at Hickford's Great Room in Brewer Street.
• ‘To the long-conceal'd first Promoter of the Cambrick and Tea-Bills [S. T. Janssen]: an Epistle [in verse],’ London, 1746.
• ‘A Discourse on Operas,’ before F. Vanneschi's ‘Fetoute. Drama,’ &c., London, 1747.
• ‘The Shetland Herring and Peruvian Gold-Mine: a Fable,’ in verse, London, 1751; 2nd edit. 1751.
• ‘A proper Answer to a Libel written by L. D. N[elme] … against J. Lockman’ [anon.], London, 1753. An attempt at wit against Lemuel Dole Nelme
  Lemuel Dole Nelme
  Lemuel Dole Nelme was an English craftsman, now remembered for wide-reaching theories on language.-Life:He was a maker of instruments and dealer in ships' merchandise of the eighteenth century. Nelme was in business in Exchange Alley in London around 1750...
  
  .
• ‘A faithful Narrative of the late pretended Gunpowder Plot in a Letter to the … Lord Mayor of London,’ London, 1755.
• ‘A History of the Cruel Sufferings of the Protestants and others by Popish Persecutions in various Countries,’ London, 1760.

Lockman wrote also a ‘History of Christianity,’ and histories of England, Greece, and of Rome, by question and answer, which passed through numerous editions. He was a frequent contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine.