Macaulay
NAME: Macaulay, Thomas Babington.
ACHIEVEMENTS: Major historian
NICKNAME/ALIAS: Baron Macaulay of Rothley.
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 25th 0ctober 1800, Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, England.
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: 28th December 1859, Campden Hill, London, England. Aged 59.
CATEGORY: Historian/Politician.
PROFESSION/CRAFT ASSOCIATION: History/Politics.
LANGUAGE: English.
PARENTS: Father, Zacchary Macaulay, Governor of Sierra Leone. Mother, Serena Mills.
SIBLINGS: Four brothers, names unknown. Four sisters, Hannah, Margaret, Fanny and Selina.
SPOUSE: None
CHILDREN: None
EDUCATION: Private school, London. Private boarding school, Hertfordshire.
Trinity College, Cambridge.
MAJOR WORK: "History of England" (1849-61).
LIFE AND TIMES:
By 1800, at the age of seven, Macaulay was not only composing hymns at the breakfast table, but had started writing a "Compendium of Universal History from the Creation to Modern Times".
He spent his summer holidays with the writer <mentored by> Hannah More* at her cottage in Somerset, where she tried to temper his intellectual activity with country walks and cooking lessons.
Macaulay went to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1818 and in 1823 was awarded a Fellowship which entitled him to seven years' residence in the college if he remained a bachelor.
In 1825, his essay on Milton was published in the Edinburgh Review, a leading political journal. It had an immediate impact. Over the next five years he wrote more Review essays, all of which were characterized by their invigorating prose.
In 1828, he published his first historical study, a review of Henry Hallam's "Constitutional History" in which he presented his own views on 17th century history.
In 1829 he was made Commissioner of Bankruptcy, earning him four hundred pounds a year.
This boost to his income meant he could afford to enter Parliament, and he became Member of Parliament for Calne in Wiltshire. He heard the news of his acceptance while staying with the abolitionist <a pal of> William Wilberforce*.
In the debates that led up to the Reform Act of 1832 Macaulay spoke for reform of Parliament and gained a reputation as a compelling speaker. In his final speech before the voting on the reform bill, he was at his most articulate, exactly to the taste of his audience.<political ally of> Peel*, leader of the Tories, said that parts of Macaulay's speech "were as beautiful as anything I ever heard."
In 1832, by now member for the new constituency of Leeds in the reformed Parliament, Macaulay followed his conscience and voted against his own Government in the debate on abolition of slavery, offering his resignation at the same time. The House voted to support the cause of abolition, and Macaulay stayed in office.
He was then appointed Commissioner on the Board of Control in 1832. The Board dealt with the directors of the <worked for> East India Company* and in 1834, Macaulay was offered membership of the Supreme Council of India. He accepted the post and in February 1834, sailed with his sister Hannah. He also took a vast number of books, including <influenced by> James Mill's* "India".
Macaulay took on the task of reforming the administration in India. In the debate about what sort of education the Indians should have, Macaulay was passionately convinced that they should be taught in a system based on Western values.
He set up a national education system, including competitive exams of the ability to read, write and do arithmetic. He also included lessons on parliamentary history.
In 1837, he was made President of a commission to inquire into the jurisdiction of British India and he completed drawing up a draft for the Indian Criminal Code. In December he returned to England.
He began writing his "History of England" but, for a while, was enticed back into politics. By 1838 he was a Member of Parliament for Edinburgh and won the post of Secretary of State for War under Lord Melbourne in 1839. This was the same year that he wrote a piece on <wrote about> Gladstone*s book on Church and State for the Edinburgh Review, in which he politely disagreed with Gladstone's position that it was the duty of the state to support the established church.
In 1841, the government fell and Macaulay felt he was now free to finish "Lays of Ancient Rome", a series of ballads telling the history of early Rome, and "Critical and Historical Essays".
This freedom was, however, short lived and, by 1846, he was back in Parliament as Paymaster General, but he lost his Edinburgh seat in 1847.
At this time, it was obvious that he had lost interest in politics and he settled down to work on the "History of England". In 1849 the first two volumes were published in Britain and the US and immediately became a sell-out. He went on to complete volumes three and four, publishing them in 1855. In 1857 he was made Baron Macaulay of Rothley.
At the end of 1859, he was suffering from heart problems and he was deeply distressed because his favorite sister, Hannah, was going to accompany her husband to India.
He was dreading their parting, but On 28th December, 1859, he died from a heart condition and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The fifth volume of 'History' was edited by his sister Hannah posthumously published in 1861.
ASSESSMENT: "History of England", set the pattern for historical writing for the next fifty years.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Knew <knew> Somerville*, <knew> Monkton Milnes*, <knew> Lyon Playfair*
ONELINER: W.B Macaulay, best-selling historian
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Byrant, Arthur; Macaulay, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1932.
Edwards, Owen Dudley, Macaulay, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London,1988.