Macaulay (of Rothley), Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron 1800-59
English writer and politician

Born Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to the Bar in 1826, and then combined his legal career with writing. His article on Milton in the August 1825 issue of the Edinburgh Review had gained him recognition, and for nearly 20 years he was one of the most prolific and popular of the writers on the magazine. He became MP for the borough of Calne in 1830, and took part in the Reform Bill debates. He was legal adviser to the Supreme Council of India (1834-38) and on his return in 1839 became MP for Edinburgh, and later Secretary of War under Lord Melbourne. He received a peerage in 1857. His History of England from the Accession of James II (5 vols, 1848-61) enjoyed unprecedented popularity for a work of its kind. He has been convicted of historical inaccuracy, but as a picturesque narrator he has few rivals.

Bibliography: J Millgate, Macaulay (1973)