Noel, Thomas

(1799-1861)

   He was born Kirkby-Mallory, Leicestershire, the son of a clergyman, and graduated B.A. from Merton College, Oxford, in 1824. In 1833 he published The Cottage Muse, a series of stanzas upon proverbs and scriptural texts. In 1841 he published two works, Village Verse and Rymes and Roundelayes. He lived for many years in great seclusion at Boyne Hill, near Maidenhead, then in 1858 he moved to Brighton, Sussex, where he died. The DNB states that he "wrote the words of the familiar song Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep." This is an error. The words were written by the American educator Emma Hart Willard (1787-1870) and set to music by Joseph P. Knight (1812-1887). Some of his poems: "A Thames Voyage," "An Old Man's Idyll," "Old Winter," "Pauper's Drive" (set to music by Henry Russell in 1839), "Poor Voter's Song," "Rat-tower Legend," "Snowdrops."

   Sources: A Treasury of Minor British Poetry. J. Churton Collins, ed. Edward Arnold, 1896. British Minstrelsie. T.C. and E.C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh, ?1900. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Great Books Online (www.bartleby.com). Parlor Poetry: A Casquet of Gems. Michael R. Turner, ed. The Viking Press, 1969. Poems for Seasons and Celebrations. William Cole, ed. World, 1961. 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 Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm).