• Name: Irving, Washington
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 3  April  1783
• Death Date: 28  November  1859
• Occupation: writer

Washington Irving (3 April 1783 – 28 November 1859) was a young American novelist ‘whom Godwin greatly admired’ (St Clair, p. 424) and later befriended. It seems as though the admiration was mutual – Irving's biographer wrote, ‘it was not until 1797 that his career as an author began, by the publication of Alcuin: a Dialogue on the Rights of Women. This and the romances which followed it show the powerful influence upon him of the school of fiction of William Godwin, and the movement of emancipation of which Mary Wollstonecraft was the leader.’ (Charles Dudley Warner, Washington Irving , chapter 1) He was known to have ‘admitted that he hardly knew an Englishman who could write so well’ (Leary, Washington Irving, p. 22). Irving dines with Godwin when in London, and the two exchanged letters in 1829 about the possibility of publishing Chaucer in America (MS Abinger). All the occurrences of the name ‘Irving’ appear in 1818, 1819, 1820, 1829, and 1830 sometimes with and sometimes without his first name/initial. These are concurrent with his 17-year sojourn to England from May 1815 onwards (Leary).

There are five isolated mentions of ‘Irving’ that have not been coded – these appear in 1802 (no first name mentioned, and Irving was a law clerk in the office of Josiah Ogden Hoffman at the time, and was not to travel abroad until 1804), 1810 (also no first name – listed as a dinner guest– interestingly with ‘Cooper’ whom he was remotely connected with through Mary Fairlie - and an adv.) and once in 1823. Swartwout, who appears with Irving in 1810 is an American, which is suggestive, but there is no evidence that Irving is in London at this time and biographical sources suggest he is in Wshington lobbying against restrictions in trade. . The 1823 reference could be Irving, as he was in Paris that year, but it has not been coded.

The entry 'Hear Irving, Caledonian Church' (29.6.1823), is a reference to someone different and is uncoded - see notes on lectures

• MS. Abinger c. 13, fols. 83-4: 14: Oct. 1829; c. 13, fols. 90-1: 16 Jan. 1830; c. 13, fols. 92-3: 30 Jan. 1830; c. 20, fol. 19: 28 Feb. 1830;
• St Clair
• Charles Dudley Warner, Washington Irving (London, 1882)
• Lewis Gaston Leary, Washington Irving (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1963)

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