Thackeray, William Makepeace 1811-63
English novelist

He was born in Calcutta, India, where his father was in the service of the East India Company. His father died (1816) and his mother remarried, so Thackeray was sent home. He went to Charterhouse (1822) and Trinity College, Cambridge (1829), but left without taking a degree. His first venture in print was a parody of Tennyson's prize poem Timbuctoo. After spending much of his inheritance in travelling abroad, he decided to try journalism, though art equally attracted him. A four-year stay in Paris as an art student came to a close through lack of funds in 1836. He married Isabella Shawe (1836), but financial worry, due to the bankruptcy of his stepfather, finally made him decide to earn a living in journalism, and he returned to London where their first daughter, Anne Thackeray Ritchie, was born. He contributed regularly to The Times, the New Monthly and Fraser's Magazine. He also had problems at home. The birth of his third daughter, Harriett Marian (later the first wife of Leslie Stephen), permanently affected Mrs Thackeray's mind, the home was broken up and the children sent to their grandmother in Paris. His first publications, starting with The Paris Sketchbook (1840), and written under a number of pseudonyms (Wagstaff, Titmarsh, Fitz-Boodle, Yellowplush, Snob, etc) were a comparative failure although they included The Yellowplush Papers, The Great Hoggarty Diamond and The Luck of Barry Lyndon, all contributed to Fraser's Magazine (1841-44). His work on Punch from 1842 exploited the view of society as seen by the butler ('Jeames' Diary') and the great theme of English snobbery, and attracted attention. The great novels that were to follow - Vanity Fair (1847-48), Pendennis (1848), Henry Esmond (3 vols, 1852) and The Newcomes (1853-55), all, with the exception of Henry Esmond, monthly serials, established his fame. Vanity Fair is the first novel to give a view of London society with its mingling of rich parvenus and decadent upper class, through both of which the social climber, Becky Sharp, threads her way. The great historical novel, Henry Esmond, shows Thackeray's consuming love of the 18th century. Its sequel, The Virginians (1857-59), is not considered a success. The Newcomes shows a young love at the mercy of scheming relatives and mean-spirited rival suitors. Thackeray retired from Punch in 1854 and became the editor of the Cornhill Magazine, where much of his later work appeared - ballads and novels, now largely unreadable. He also undertook lecturing tours at home and in the USA, the fruit of which, apart from The Virginians, was The English Humorists of the 18th century (1853) and The Four Georges (1860).

Bibliography: G N Ray, William Makepeace Thackeray (2 vols, 1955-68)