Thomas Frost (16 December 1821 – 16 July 1908) was an English writer, journalist, lecturer, printer and Chartist.Peter Gurney,
Frost, Thomas (1821–1908)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online edn, Oxford University Press, Oct 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2010.

Early years

Thomas Frost was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

in Surrey (now part of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

) on 16 December 1821, the son of a tailor who had read

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an Agrarianism, agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restr ...

's ''

Political Register The ''Cobbett's Weekly Political Register'', commonly known as the ''Political Register'', was a weekly London-based newspaper founded by William Cobbett in 1802. It published continuously until Cobbett's death in 1836. History Originally propou ...

'' and took part in the agitation to secure 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 ...

. Apprenticed to a printer (his cousin Cornelius Chapman) in Norwood, London, Thomas started his own printing firm in the same town after Chapman's business became bankrupt.Frost, Thomas. ''Reminiscences of a Country Journalist''. Covent Garden: Ward and Downey, 1888

Career

In 1846 he took over the publication of

John Goodwyn Barmby John Goodwyn Barmby (Bapt. 12 November 1820 – 18 October 1881) was an English Victorian utopian socialist thinker. He and his wife Catherine Barmby (1816/17–1853) were influential supporters of Robert Owen in the late 1830s and early 1840 ...

's ''Communist Chronicle,'' a monthly paper which had been discontinued for financial reasons. Frost revived the Chronicle as a weekly publication and reduced the price from 3d. to 1d. with Barmby retaining editorial control. Differences between Barmby and Frost on their aims caused publication to cease. Frost then started a short-lived ''Communist Journal.'' From 1847 to 1848 he was associated with the Fraternal Democrats. From 1859 Frost was a leader writer for the

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

''Albion'' weekly newspaper, on foreign politics and social questions. The newspaper maintained a political viewpoint independent of the main political parties until 1872, when a new proprietor, a member of the Conservative Party, recast the paper as a morning daily. Frost's terms of employment were now changed so that he was only paid for articles that were published; he was contracted to provide two articles per week, but many were not published, being politically incompatible. His income falling by one-third he left the ''Albion.'' Frost subsequently settled in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, and worked as a reporter for the ''Barnsley Times'' and the ''Barnsley Chronicle.'' He wrote a number of books, mostly by his own admission "

potboiler A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, Play (theatre), play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit whose main purpose is to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means " ...

s". He estimated his annual income from journalism and other literary undertakings to have been less than £200 per year. He died in 1908. Frost claimed it was not until he read the poetry of

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...

that he learned of "the connexion between the influence of circumstances in the formation of character and the new organization which

Owen Owen may refer to: People and fictional characters * Owen (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Places United States * Owen, Missouri, a ghost town * Owen, Wisconsin * Owen County, Indiana ...

desired to give society". Frost became an active Chartist and

Owenite Owenism is the utopian socialist philosophy of 19th-century social reformer Robert Owen and his followers and successors, who are known as Owenites. Owenism aimed for radical reform of society and is considered a forerunner of the cooperativ ...

and although he believed in revolution he stopped short of taking part in a revolutionary conspiracy to avoid arrest. He above all desired independence and wrote that "the assumption by Mr. Gladstone of the leadership of the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in the House of Commons seemed to promise the inauguration of a new era".

Magic history

Frost wrote three books on the history of

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

. His ''Lives of the Conjurers'' (1876) is considered to be the first significant history of magic. M. Thomas Inge described the book as "a full-fledged chronicle of magic and an invaluable reference work". The magician

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

wrote that they were the "best books of their kind up to the time of their publication, but they are marked by glaring errors, showing that Frost compiled rather than investigated." Frost's book ''Lives of the Conjurers'' is said to contain errors in relation to the magician

Wiljalba Frikell Wiljalba Frikell (June 27, 1818 – October 10, 1903) was a famous magician and author. His stage name was Friedrich Wilhelm Frickel and he also went by W. Frickel and Wiljalba Frickel. He was born in Sagan, Prussia. Thomas Frost wrote about ...

. Magic historian

Walter B. Gibson Walter Brown Gibson (September 12, 1897 – December 6, 1985) was an Americans, American writer and professional magic (illusion), magician, best known for his work on the pulp magazine, pulp fiction character The Shadow, and as a ghost-writer ...

noted that "the information offered by Mr. Thomas Frost and his successors, concerning Frikell, is in the main incorrect and unreliable."Gibson, Walter B; Young, Morris N. (1953). ''Houdini on Magic''. Dover Publications. p. 73

Death

Thomas Frost died 16 July 1908.

Footnotes

Works

''Circus Life and Circus Celebrities''
(1875, 1881)
''Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs''
(1875)
''The Lives of the Conjurors''
(1876)
''The Life of Thomas Lord Lyttelton''
(1876)
''The Secret Societies of the European Revolution, 1776–1876''
(vol. 1) (London: Tinsley Bros., 1876)
''The Secret Societies of the European Revolution, 1776–1876''
(vol. 2) (London: Tinsley Bros., 1876)
''Forty Years' Recollections: Literary and Political''
(London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1880)
''Modern Explorers''
(1882)
''Reminiscences of a Country Journalist''
London: Ward, 1886.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Thomas 1821 births 1908 deaths 19th-century English journalists 19th-century English historians 19th-century English memoirists 20th-century English people Chartists English male journalists Historians of magic People from Croydon Writers from the London Borough of Croydon Owenites