Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was an English historian, poet, and
Whig politician, who served as the
Secretary at War
The secretary at war was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Aft ...
between 1839 and 1841, and as the
Paymaster General
His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The position is currently held by Nick Thomas-Symonds of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party.
History
The post was ...
between 1846 and 1848. He is best known for his ''
The History of England'', a seminal example of
Whig history
Whig history (or Whig historiography) is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present". The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy ...
which expressed Macaulay's belief in the
inevitability of sociopolitical progress and has been widely commended for its prose style.
Macaulay also played a substantial role in determining
India's education policy, in which he was guided by his conviction that
Western European culture was superior to
that of India and the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
.
Early life
Macaulay was born at
Rothley Temple
Rothley Temple, or more correctly Rothley Preceptory, (pronounced ''Rowth-Ley'') was a preceptory (a religious establishment operated by certain orders of monastic knights) in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire, England, associated with bo ...
in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
on 25 October 1800, the son of
Zachary Macaulay
Zachary Macaulay (; 2 May 1768 – 13 May 1838) was a Scottish statistician and abolitionist who was a founder of London University and of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and a Governor of British Sierra Leone.
Early life
Macaulay wa ...
, a Scottish
Highlander, who became a
colonial governor and
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
, and
Selina Mills of
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, a former pupil of
Hannah More
Hannah More (2 February 1745 – 7 September 1833) was an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet, and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, who wrote on moral and religious subjects. Born in Bristol, she taught at ...
. They named their first child after his uncle
Thomas Babington
Thomas Babington of Rothley Temple (; 18 December 1758 – 21 November 1837) was an English philanthropist and politician. He was a member of the Clapham Sect, alongside more famous abolitionists such as William Wilberforce and Hannah More. An ...
, a
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
landowner and politician, who had married Zachary's sister Jean. The young Macaulay was noted as a child prodigy; as a toddler, gazing out of the window from his cot at the chimneys of a local factory, he is reputed to have asked his father whether the smoke came from the fires of hell.
He was educated at a private school in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, and, subsequently, at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...
, where he won several prizes, including the
Chancellor's Gold Medal
The Chancellor's Gold Medal is annual award for poetry open to undergraduates at the University of Cambridge, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate Prize. It was first presented by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh ...
in June 1821,
and where he in 1825 published a prominent essay on
Milton in the ''
Edinburgh Review
The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929.
''Edinburgh Review'', ...
''. Macaulay did not study classical literature while at Cambridge, though he subsequently did when he was in India. In his letters he describes his reading of the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
'' whilst he was in Malvern in 1851, and says he was moved to tears by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
's poetry. He taught himself German, Dutch and Spanish, and was fluent in French. He studied law and in 1826 he was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
, before he took more interest in a political career. Macaulay in the ''Edinburgh Review'' in 1827, and in a series of anonymous letters to ''
The Morning Chronicle
''The Morning Chronicle'' was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. It ...
'',
censured the analysis of indentured labour by the British Colonial Office expert
Colonel Thomas Moody, Kt. Macaulay's evangelical Whig father
Zachary Macaulay
Zachary Macaulay (; 2 May 1768 – 13 May 1838) was a Scottish statistician and abolitionist who was a founder of London University and of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and a Governor of British Sierra Leone.
Early life
Macaulay wa ...
, who desired a 'free black peasantry' rather than equality for Africans,
also censured, in the ''
Anti-Slavery Reporter
The ''Anti-Slavery Reporter'' was founded in London in 1825 as the ''Anti-Slavery Monthly Reporter'' by Zachary Macaulay (1768–1838), a Scottish people, Scottish philanthropist who devoted most of his life to the Abolitionism in the United K ...
'', Moody's contentions.
Macaulay, who did not marry nor have children, was rumoured to have fallen in love with
Maria Kinnaird
Maria Kinnaird (1810–1891), born on St. Vincent, was orphaned when La Soufrière erupted in 1812 and was later adopted by the politician Richard Sharp, known as " Conversation Sharp". Sharp was once considered possibly to be the most popula ...
, who was the wealthy ward of
Richard 'Conversation' Sharp. Macaulay's strongest emotional relationships were with his youngest sisters: Margaret, who died while he was in India, and Hannah, to whose daughter Margaret, whom he called 'Baba', he was also attached.
India (1834–1838)
Macaulay in 1830 accepted the invitation of
the Marquess of Lansdowne
Marquess of Lansdowne is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1784, and held by the head of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family. The first Marquess served as Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Origins
This branch of the Fitzmaurice family ...
that he become Member of Parliament for the
pocket borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act of 1832, which had a very small electo ...
of
Calne
Calne () is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity ...
. Macaulay's maiden speech in Parliament advocated abolition of the
civil disabilities of the Jews in the UK. Macaulay's subsequent speeches in favour of parliamentary reform were commended.
He became MP for
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
[ subsequent to the 1833 enactment of the ]Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...
, by which Calne's representation was reduced from two MPs to one, and by which Leeds, which had not been represented before, had two MPs. Macaulay remained grateful to his former patron, Lansdowne, who remained his friend.
Macaulay was Secretary to the Board of Control
The Secretary to the Board of Control was a British government office in the late 18th and early 19th century, supporting the President of the Board of Control, who was responsible for overseeing the British East India Company and generally servin ...
under Lord Grey from 1832 until he in 1833 required, as a consequence of the penury of his father, a more remunerative office, than that of the unremunerated office of an MP, from which he resigned after the passing of the Government of India Act 1833
The Government of India Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 85), sometimes called the East India Company Act 1833 or the Charter Act 1833, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, later retitled as the Saint Helena Act 1833. It extended th ...
to accept an appointment as first Law Member of the Governor-General's Council. In 1834 Macaulay went to India, where he served on the Supreme Council between 1834 and 1838.
His ''Minute on Indian Education'' of February 1835 was primarily responsible for the introduction of Western institutional education to India.
Macaulay recommended the introduction of the English language as the official language
An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
of secondary education instruction in all schools where there had been none before, and the training of English-speaking Indians as teachers.
In his minute, he urged Lord William Bentinck
Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 177417 June 1839), known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British military commander and politician who served as the governor of the Be ...
, the then-Governor-General
Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
to reform secondary education on utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...
lines to deliver "useful learning", a phrase that to him was synonymous with Western culture. There was no tradition of secondary education in vernacular languages; the institutions supported by the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
taught either in Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
or Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
. Hence, he argued, "We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue. We must teach them some foreign language." Macaulay argued that Sanskrit and Persian were no more accessible than English to the speakers of the Indian vernacular languages and existing Sanskrit and Persian texts were of little use for "useful learning". In one of the less scathing passages of the Minute he wrote
Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...
:
I have no knowledge of either Sanskrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanskrit works. I have conversed both here and at home with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the Oriental learning at the valuation of the Orientalists
themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.
He further argued:
It will hardly be disputed, I suppose, that the department of literature in which the Eastern writers stand highest is poetry. And I certainly never met with any orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic and Sanskrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations. But when we pass from works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded and general principles investigated, the superiority of the Europeans becomes absolutely immeasurable. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England. In every branch of physical or moral philosophy, the relative position of the two nations is nearly the same.
Hence, from the sixth year of schooling onwards, instruction should be in European learning, with English as the medium of instruction. This would create a class of anglicised Indians who would serve as cultural intermediaries between the British and the Indians; the creation of such a class was necessary before any reform of vernacular education. He stated: I feel with them that it is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.
Macaulay's largely coincided with Bentinck's views and Bentinck's English Education Act 1835 closely matched Macaulay's recommendations (in 1836, a school named La Martinière, founded by Major General Claude Martin, had one of its houses named after him), but subsequent Governors-General took a more conciliatory approach to existing Indian education.
His final years in India were devoted to the creation of a Penal Code, as the leading member of the Law Commission. In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...
, Macaulay's criminal law proposal was enacted. The Indian Penal Code
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...
in 1860 was followed by the Criminal Procedure Code in 1872 and the Civil Procedure Code
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case ...
in 1908. The Indian Penal Code
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...
inspired counterparts in most other British colonies
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...
, and to date many of these laws are still in effect in places as far apart as Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
, Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
and Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
, as well as in India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
itself. This includes Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which remains the basis for laws which criminalize homosexuality in several Commonwealth nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...
.
In Indian culture, the term "Macaulay's Children" is sometimes used to refer to people born of Indian ancestry who adopt Western culture as a lifestyle, or display attitudes influenced by colonialism ("Macaulayism
Macaulayism refers to the policy of introducing the English education system to British colonies. The term is derived from the name of British politician Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859), who served on the Governor-General's Council and ...
") – expressions used disparagingly, and with the implication of disloyalty to one's country and one's heritage. In independent India, Macaulay's idea of the civilising mission
The civilizing mission (; ; ) is a political rationale for military intervention and for colonization purporting to facilitate the cultural assimilation of indigenous peoples, especially in the period from the 15th to the 20th centuries. As ...
has been used by Dalitists, in particular by neo-liberalist
Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...
Chandra Bhan Prasad
Chandra Bhan Prasad (born September 1958) is an Indian journalist, writer, activist and political commentator.[Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...]
ns confronting ''helot
The helots (; , ''heílotes'') were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their exact characteristics ...
s'': we are dealing with 'a race of sovereign' or a 'sovereign caste', wielding absolute power over its 'serfs'." Losurdo noted that this did not prompt any doubts from Macaulay over the right of Britain to administer its colonies in an autocratic fashion; for example, while Macaulay described the administration of governor-general of India
The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...
as being so despotic that "all the injustice of former oppressors, Asiatic and European, appeared as a blessing", he (Hastings) deserved "high admiration" and a rank among "the most remarkable men in our history" for "having saved England and civilisation".
Return to British public life (1838–1857)
Returning to Britain in 1838, he became MP again in Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
in the following year. He was made Secretary at War
The secretary at war was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Aft ...
in 1839 by Lord Melbourne
Henry William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (15 March 177924 November 1848) was a British Whig politician who served as the Home Secretary and twice as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
His first premiership ended when he was dismissed ...
and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year. In 1841 Macaulay addressed the issue of copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
law. Macaulay's position, slightly modified, became the basis of copyright law
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, e ...
in the English-speaking world for many decades. Macaulay argued that copyright is a monopoly and as such has generally negative effects on society.[ After the fall of Melbourne's government in 1841 Macaulay devoted more time to literary work, and returned to office as ]Paymaster General
His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The position is currently held by Nick Thomas-Symonds of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party.
History
The post was ...
in 1846 in Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 186 ...
's administration.
In the election of 1847 he lost his seat in Edinburgh. He attributed the loss to the anger of religious zealots over his speech in favour of expanding the annual government grant to Maynooth College
St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College.
The college was of ...
in Ireland, which trained young men for the Catholic priesthood; some observers also attributed his loss to his neglect of local issues. In 1849 he was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow
The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior management of the university ...
, a position with no administrative duties, often awarded by the students to men of political or literary fame. He also received the freedom of the city.
In 1852, the voters of Edinburgh offered to re-elect him to Parliament. He accepted on the express condition that he need not campaign and would not pledge himself to a position on any political issue. Remarkably, he was elected on those terms. He seldom attended the House due to ill health. His weakness after suffering a heart attack caused him to postpone for several months making his speech of thanks to the Edinburgh voters. He resigned his seat in January 1856. In 1857 he was raised to the peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks.
Peerages include:
A ...
as Baron Macaulay, of Rothley
Rothley ( ) is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Charnwood in Leicestershire, England. Situated around west of the River Soar and north of Leicester, it had a population of 3,612 inhabitants . The population measured at the 20 ...
in the County of Leicester
Leicestershire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, and ...
, but seldom attended the House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
.
Later life (1857–1859)
Macaulay sat on the committee to decide on the historical subjects to be painted in the new Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...
. The need to collect reliable portraits of notable figures from history for this project led to the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
* National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
* National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London
...
, which was formally established on 2 December 1856. Macaulay was amongst its founding trustees and is honoured with one of only three busts above the main entrance.
During his later years his health made work increasingly difficult for him. He died of a heart attack on 28 December 1859, aged 59, leaving his major work, ''The History of England from the Accession of James the Second'' incomplete. On 9 January 1860 he was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
, in Poets' Corner
Poets' Corner is a section of the southern transept of Westminster Abbey in London, England, where many poets, playwrights, and writers are buried or commemorated.
The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Willia ...
, near a statue of Addison
Addison may refer to:
Places Canada
* Addison, Ontario, a community
United States
* Addison, Alabama, a town
* Addison, Illinois, a village
* Addison, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
* Addison, Maine, a town
* Addison, Michigan, a villag ...
.[ As he had no children, his peerage became extinct on his death.
Macaulay's nephew, Sir George Trevelyan, Bt, wrote the "Life and Letters" of his uncle. His great-nephew was the Cambridge historian ]G. M. Trevelyan
George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was an English historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to th ...
.
Literary works
As a young man he composed the ballads ''Ivry'' and ''The Armada'', which he later included as part of ''Lays of Ancient Rome
''Lays of Ancient Rome'' is an 1842 collection of narrative poems, or lays, by Thomas Babington Macaulay. Four of these recount heroic episodes from early Roman history with strong dramatic and tragic themes, giving the collection its name ...
'', a series of very popular poems about heroic episodes in Roman history which he began composing in India and continued in Rome, finally publishing in 1842. The most famous of them, ''Horatius Horatius may refer to:
People Roman era
* several ancient Roman men of the '' gens Horatia'', including:
** Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the poet known in English as Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Sueto ...
'', concerns the heroism of Horatius Cocles
Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the early Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Etruscan civilization, Etruscan King Lars Porsena of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the ...
. It contains the oft-quoted lines:
His essays, originally published in the ''Edinburgh Review
The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929.
''Edinburgh Review'', ...
'', were collected as '' Critical and Historical Essays'' in 1843.
Historian
During the 1840s, Macaulay undertook his most famous work, ''The History of England from the Accession of James the Second
''The History of England from the Accession of James the Second'' (1848) is the full title of the five-volume work by Lord Macaulay (1800–1859) more generally known as ''The History of England''. It covers the 17-year period from 1685 to 1702, ...
'', publishing the first two volumes in 1848. At first, he had planned to bring his history down to the reign of George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
. After publication of his first two volumes, his hope was to complete his work with the death of Queen Anne in 1714.
The third and fourth volumes, bringing the history to the Peace of Ryswick
The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included the Dutc ...
, were published in 1855. At his death in 1859 he was working on the fifth volume. This, bringing the ''History'' down to the death of William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily ()
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg (1817–1890)
N ...
, was prepared for publication by his sister, Lady Trevelyan, after his death.
Political writing
Macaulay's political writings are famous for their ringing prose and for their confident, sometimes dogmatic, emphasis on a progressive model of British history, according to which the country threw off superstition, autocracy and confusion to create a balanced constitution and a forward-looking culture combined with freedom of belief and expression. This model of human progress has been called the Whig interpretation of history
Whig history (or Whig historiography) is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present". The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy ...
. This philosophy appears most clearly in the essays Macaulay wrote for the ''Edinburgh Review
The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929.
''Edinburgh Review'', ...
'' and other publications, which were collected in book form and a steady best-seller throughout the 19th century. But it is also reflected in ''History''; the most stirring passages in the work are those that describe the "Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...
" of 1688.
Macaulay's approach has been criticised by later historians for its one-sidedness and its complacency. Karl Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
referred to him as a 'systematic falsifier of history'. His tendency to see history as a drama led him to treat figures whose views he opposed as if they were villains, while characters he approved of were presented as heroes. Macaulay goes to considerable length, for example, to absolve his main hero William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily ()
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg (1817–1890)
N ...
of any responsibility for the Glencoe massacre
The Massacre of Glencoe took place in Glen Coe in the Argyll region of the Scottish Highlands on 13 February 1692. An estimated 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by Scottish government forces, allegedly for fa ...
. Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
devoted a four-volume biography of the Duke of Marlborough
General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was a British army officer and statesman. From a gentry family, he ...
to rebutting Macaulay's slights on his ancestor, expressing hope "to fasten the label 'Liar' to his genteel coat-tails". Later historians have also highlighted his views on non-European cultures and philosophies as explicitly racist, citing, for example, his remark that 'a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia'.
Legacy as a historian
The Liberal historian Lord Acton
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, Liberal politician, and writer. A strong advocate for individua ...
read Macaulay's ''History of England'' four times and later described himself as "a raw English schoolboy, primed to the brim with Whig politics" but "not Whiggism
Whiggism or Whiggery is a political philosophy that grew out of the Roundhead, Parliamentarian faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1653) and was concretely formulated by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Shafte ...
only, but Macaulay in particular that I was so full of." However, Acton would later find fault in Macaulay. In 1880 Acton classed Macaulay (with Burke
Burke (; ) is a Normans in Ireland, Norman-Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (''circa'' 1160–1206) had the surname'' de B ...
and Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party.
In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
) as one "of the three greatest Liberals". In 1883, he advised Mary Gladstone
Mary Drew (''née'' Gladstone; 23 November 1847 – 1 January 1927) was a political secretary, writer, and hostess. She was the daughter of the British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone, and achieved notability as his advisor, confidan ...
:
In 1885, Acton asserted that:
In 1888, Acton wrote that Macaulay "had done more than any writer in the literature of the world for the propagation of the Liberal faith, and he was not only the greatest, but the most representative, Englishman then living".
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...
described Macaulay's wit, "who wrote of Queen Anne" as part of Colonel Calverley's Act I patter song in the libretto of the 1881 operetta ''Patience
or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...
''. (This line may well have been a joke about the Colonel's pseudo-intellectual bragging, as most educated Victorians knew that Macaulay did ''not'' write of Queen Anne; the ''History'' encompasses only as far as the death of William III in 1702, who was succeeded by Anne.)
Herbert Butterfield
Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a sh ...
's ''The Whig Interpretation of History'' (1931) attacked Whig history. The Dutch historian Pieter Geyl
Pieter Catharinus Arie Geyl (15 December 1887, Dordrecht – 31 December 1966, Utrecht) was a Dutch historian, well known for his studies in early modern Dutch history and in historiography.
Background
Geyl was born in Dordrecht and graduated ...
, writing in 1955, considered Macaulay's ''Essays'' as "exclusively and intolerantly English".
On 7 February 1954, Lord Moran
Baron Moran, of Manton in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1943 for the physician Charles Wilson (10 November 1882 – 12 April 1977). He is chiefly remembered as Winston Church ...
, doctor to the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, recorded in his diary:
George Richard Potter
George Richard Potter (1900 – 1981) was a British historian. From 1931 until 1965 he was Professor of Modern/Medieval History at the University of Sheffield. He also edited the first volume of ''The New Cambridge Modern History
''The New ...
, Professor and Head of the Department of History at the University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
from 1931 to 1965, stated "In an age of long letters ... Macaulay's hold their own with the best". However Potter also stated:
With regards to Macaulay's determination to inspect physically the places mentioned in his ''History'', Potter said:
Potter noted that Macaulay has had many critics, some of whom put forward some salient points about the deficiency of Macaulay's ''History'' but added: "The severity and the minuteness of the criticism to which the ''History of England'' has been subjected is a measure of its permanent value. It is worth every ounce of powder and shot that is fired against it." Potter concluded that "in the long roll of English historical writing from Clarendon to Trevelyan only Gibbon
Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical forests from eastern Bangladesh and Northeast Indi ...
has surpassed him in security of reputation and certainty of immortality".
Piers Brendon wrote that Macaulay is "the only British rival to Gibbon." In 1972, J. R. Western wrote that: "Despite its age and blemishes, Macaulay's ''History of England'' has still to be superseded by a full-scale modern history of the period." In 1974 J. P. Kenyon stated that: "As is often the case, Macaulay had it exactly right."
W. A. Speck
William Arthur Speck (11 January 1938, Bradford – 15 February 2017, Carlisle) was a British historian who specialised in late 17th and 18th-century British and American history.
He was born in Bradford and was the son of a bookbinder. He wa ...
wrote in 1980, that a reason Macaulay's ''History of England'' "still commands respect is that it was based upon a prodigious amount of research". Speck stated:
According to Speck:
On the other hand, Speck also wrote that Macaulay "took pains to present the virtues even of a rogue, and he painted the virtuous warts and all", and that "he was never guilty of suppressing or distorting evidence to make it support a proposition which he knew to be untrue". Speck concluded:
In 1981, J. W. Burrow
John Wyon Burrow, FBA (4 June 1935 in Southsea – 3 November 2009 in Witney, Oxfordshire)[Gertrude Himmelfarb
Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, ...]
wrote: Himmelfarb also laments that "the history of the ''History'' is a sad testimonial to the cultural regression of our times".
In the novel '' Marathon Man'' and its film adaptation
A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
, the protagonist was named 'Thomas Babington' after Macaulay.
In 2008, Walter Olson
Walter K. Olson (born 1954) is an American author and blogger who writes mostly about legal subjects, including tort reform. Olson is a senior fellow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C. Formerly, Olson was associated ...
argued for the pre-eminence of Macaulay as a British classical liberal
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, eco ...
.
Works
*
* ''Lays of Ancient Rome'' originally published in the year 1842.
*
** 5 vols (1848)
Vol 1
Vol 2
Vol 3
Vol 4
Vol 5
at Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
** 5 vols (1848)
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5
at Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
*
volumes 1–3
at LibriVox
LibriVox is a group of worldwide volunteers who read and record public domain texts, creating free public domain audiobooks for download from their website and other digital library hosting sites on the internet. It was founded in 2005 by Hugh M ...
.org
* ''Critical and Historical Essays(1843)'', 2 vols, edited by Alexander James Grieve
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
*
*
* ''William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: Second Essay'' (Maynard, Merrill, & Company, 1892, 110 pages)
* ''The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay(1860)'', 4 vol
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
on Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise '' The Prince'' (), writte ...
(1850).
* ''The Letters of Thomas Babington Macaulay(1881)'', 6 vols, edited by Thomas Pinney.
* ''The Journals of Thomas Babington Macaulay'', 5 vols, edited by William Thomas.
Macaulay index entry at Poets' Corner
with an introduction by Bob Blair
*
Arms
See also
* Philosophic Whigs
* Whig history
Whig history (or Whig historiography) is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present". The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy ...
further explains the interpretation of history that Macaulay espoused.
* Samuel Rogers#Middle life and friendships
Citations
General and cited sources
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Further reading
* Bryant, Arthur
Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant, (18 February 1899 – 22 January 1985) was an English historian, columnist for ''The Illustrated London News'' and man of affairs. His books included studies of Samuel Pepys, accounts of English eighteenth- and ...
(1932). ''Macaulay'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979). acsimile reprint of London, P. Davies old, popular biography.
* Clive, John Leonard (1973). ''Thomas Babington Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian'' London: Secker and Warburg. .
* Cruikshank, Margaret (1978). ''Thomas Babington Macaulay''. Boston: Twayne. .
* Edwards, Owen Dudley (1988). ''Macaulay''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
*
*
* Howard, Michael. "Historians Reconsidered : II Macaulay." ''History Today'' (May 1951) 1#5 pp. 56–61 online.
* Jann, Rosemary ''The Art and Science of Victorian History'' (1985
online free
* Masani, Zareer (2013). ''Macaulay: Britain's Liberal Imperialist''. London: Bodley Head
The Bodley Head is an English book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1887 by John Lane and Elkin Mathews, The Bodley Head existed as an independent entity or as part of multiple consortia until it was acquired by Random ...
.
*
*
* Speck, W. A., "Robert Southey, Lord Macaulay and the Standard of Living Controversy", ''History'' 86 (2001) 467–477
External links
*
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
Fran Pritchett, Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
*
*
*
*
books by Macauly at Readanybook.com
Lord Macaulay's Habit of Exaggeration
JamesBoswell.info
Ramachandra Guha, ''The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'', 4 February 2007
* – burial at Westminster Abbey, London
* – memorial statue, antechapel, Trinity College, Cambridge
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