Macaulay, Thomas Babington, Baron Macaulay

(1800-1859)

   Born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, son of the philanthropist Zachary Macaulay, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the English prize for a poem in 1819 ("Pompeii") and in 1821 ("Evening"). Called to the bar in 1826, he entered Parliament in 1830 as a Whig and took an active part in the first Reform Act of 1832. In 1834 he was appointed to the Supreme Council of India, and the publication of his Minutes on Law and Education (1835) considerably influenced Indian society. He was buried at the foot of Joseph Addison's statue in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. His History of England appeared between 1845 and 1855, and his collected Essays Critical and Historical was published in 1834. His Lays of Ancient Rome-a series of poems on leading figures in Roman history-was published in 1842. Some of his poems: "A Jacobite's Epitaph," "A Radical War Song," -"An Election Ballad," "Epitaph on Henry Martyn," "Horatius," "Ivry," "Sermon in a Churchyard," "The Armada," "The Battle of Naseby," "The Battle of the Lake Regillus," "The Last Buccaneer."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Everyman's Book of Evergreen Verse. David Herbert, ed. J.M. Dent, 1984. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). Other Men's Flowers. A.P. Wavell, ed. Jonathan Cape, 1990. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Eternal Sea: An Anthology of Sea Poetry. W.M. Williamson, ed. Coward-McCann, 1946. The Oxford Book of War Poetry. Jon Stallworthy, Oxford University Press, 1984. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).