Frederick Guest Tomlins (1804–1867) was an English journalist.

Life

He was born in August 1804. He was originally in the employment of Whittaker & Co., publishers, London, as publishing clerk and literary assistant to

George Byrom Whittaker George Byrom Whittaker (1793–1847) was an English bookseller and publisher. Life Born at Southampton in March 1793, he was the son of the Rev. George Whittaker, master of the grammar school. About 1814 he became a partner of Charles Law, wholesa ...

. Soon after Whittaker's death in 1847, he went into business as a publisher in Southampton Street, The Strand, London, and there issued a publication called '' The Self-Educator''. He next opened a shop for new and secondhand books in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, near the

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; but after a while he gave up business for writing. In 1831 he was a contributor to Henry Hetherington's ''

Poor Man's Guardian The ''Poor Man's Guardian'' was a penny weekly newspaper published in London, England by Henry Hetherington from July 1831 to December 1835. Hetherington published his ''Poor Man's Guardian'', a successor to his earlier (1830–31) penny daily ' ...

'', and afterwards to the ''

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'', in which he published the series of articles signed ‘Littlejohn.’ He was for some time sub-editor of '' Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper'', and was editorially connected with the ''

'' and with '' The Leader''. Tomlins was the founder of the

Shakespeare Society William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

in 1840, and acted as the society's secretary. From 1850 to his death he was the dramatic and fine-art critic of the ''

Morning Advertiser ''Morning Advertiser'' is one of the oldest news publications in the world, beginning as a newspaper in 1794 and being published in hard copy until 2020. In 2011, William Reed Ltd, bought ''The Publican'' from United Business Media and merged t ...

''. On the death of his uncle, in 1864, he succeeded him as clerk of the Painter-Stainers' Company, an office which had been held by his grandfather. His tragedy, ‘Garcia, or the Noble Error,’ was produced at Sadler's Wells on 12 December 1849. He died at the Painter-Stainers' Hall, Little Trinity Lane, London, on 21 September 1867, and was buried at St. Peter's Church,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, on 27 September.

Works

He was the author of: * ''A Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern'' (1836), 2 vols. * ''The Past and Present State of Dramatic Art and Literature'' (1839). * ''A History of England from the Invasion of the Romans'' (1839), 3 vols.; another edition 1857, 3 vols. * ''A Brief View of the English Drama, with suggestions for elevating the present condition of the art'' (1840). * ''The Nature and State of the English Drama'' (1841). * ''The Relative Value of the Acted and Unacted Drama'' (1841). * ''A Complete System of Geography, Ancient and Modern'' (1845). * ''Remarks on the Present State of the English Drama'' (1851).

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlins, Frederick Guest 1804 births 1867 deaths English male journalists 19th-century British journalists 19th-century English male writers