Hervey, Thomas Kibble

(1799-1859)

   Born in Paisley, Scotland, but brought to Manchester at the age of four when his father changed jobs, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School, then at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1818 to 1820, but left to concentrate on writing. He wrote for the Dublin Review and the Art Journal, was editor for Friendship's Offering and the Amaranth, and was sole editor of Athenæum from 1846 to 1853, when ill-health forced his retirement. His contributions to the Athenæum covered poetry and novels, history (particularly that of Nelson, Wellington and Napoleon), love and marriage, social conditions, travel, gift books, anthologies and almanacs, and galleries and museums. He died at Kentish Town, London, and was buried at Highgate Cemetery. In 1866 his widow collected his poems and published them, with memoir and portrait, at Boston, USA. Some of his publications: The Poetical Sketch-Book, 1829. Prose and illustrative Poetry, 1834. The Book of Christmas, 1836. The English Helicon of the Nineteenth Century, 1841. Some of his poems: "Australia," "Dead Trumpeter," "I Know Thou Art Gone," "The Convict Ship," "The Devil's Progress."

   Sources: Athenaeum Index: Contributor Record (http://web.soi.city.ac.uk/Hervey, Thomas Kibbleasp/v2/contributors/contributorfiles/HERVEY,ThomasKibble.html). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Great Books Online (www.bartleby.com).