Thomas Miller (31 August 1807 – 24 October 1874) was an English poet and novelist who explored rural subjects. He was one of the most prolific English working-class writers of the 19th century and produced in all over 45 volumes, including some "

penny dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typically referred to ...

s" on urban crime.

Early life

Miller was born in

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Gainsborough is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town population was 20,842 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 23,243 in 2019. It lies on the east bank of the River Trent ...

, the son of George Miller, an unsuccessful

wharfinger Wharfinger (pronounced ''wor-fin-jer)'' is an archaic term for a person who is the keeper or owner of a wharf. The wharfinger takes custody of and is responsible for goods delivered to the wharf, typically has an office on the wharf or dock, and ...

and ship-owner, who deserted his wife and two sons in 1810. Thomas grew up in Sailors Alley, Gainsborough. His childhood friends included the future poet and journalist Thomas Cooper. He attended the White Hart Charity School. Although he left school at nine, he became a voracious reader. His love of the countryside was reinforced by summers spent on his grandfather's farm. Miller found work as a ploughboy, then as a shoemaker's apprentice, but he was released from his indentures after he threw "an iron instrument" at his vicious and tyrannical master. He was then apprenticed as a basket-maker to his stepfather. When Miller had completed his apprenticeship, he moved to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

in 1831 to set up a basket-making business.Ian S. Beckwith, ''The Book of Gainsborough'' (1988). . There he published his first writings, ''Songs of the Sea Nymphs'' (1832), which he dedicated to

Lady Blessington Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (née Power; 1 September 1789 – 4 June 1849), was an Irish novelist, journalist, and literary hostess.''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and ...

.ODNB entry. ''Godfrey Malvern'' (1842) has been called "his most interesting novel... telling the story of a poor schoolmaster who enters the London literary world." Thomas Miller's birthplace

London poverty

After moving to London he was befriended by Lady Blessington and by

Samuel Rogers Samuel Rogers (30 July 1763 – 18 December 1855) was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron. His ...

, and for a time engaged in business as a bookseller, but was unsuccessful and then devoted himself exclusively to literature, producing over 45 volumes, including novels, in which he successfully delineated rural characters and scenes. Among them were ''Royston Gower'' (1838), ''Gideon Giles the Roper'', ''Rural Sketches'' and ''Pictures of Country Life'', illustrated by Samuel Williams. He contributed a series to the run of "penny dreadfuls" entitled ''

The Mysteries of London ''The Mysteries of London'' is a "penny blood" or city mysteries novel begun by George W. M. Reynolds in 1844. Recent scholarship has uncovered that it "was almost certainly the most widely read single work of fiction in mid-nineteenth century B ...

'', which depict urban crime. Although Miller attracted some patronage and some sums from the Royal Literary Fund, he was often in financial need. He appealed directly to

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

for assistance in 1851, but Dickens declined and wrote to his friend Bulwer Lytton, "I fear he

iller The Iller (; ancient name Ilargus) is a river of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube, long. It is formed at the confluence of the rivers Breitach, Stillach and Trettach near Oberstdorf in the Allgäu ...

has mistaken his vocation." Miller had a wife and four children: Henry, George, Emma and Ellen. He died of a stroke at his home at 24 New Street,

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, on 24 October 1874 and was buried in

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of L ...

.''West Norwood Cemetery Dickens Connections'', Friends of

br>
1995 He was survived by one of his sons and his two spinster daughters.

Evening (The Poem)

References

*"Miller, Thomas". In: ''British Authors of the Nineteenth Century'' (New York: H. C. Wilson Company, 1936). *

External links

* *Thomas Miller (1852)
''Picturesque sketches of London, past and present''
From

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

*
Miller, Thomas (1807–1874)
at ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Thomas 1807 births 1874 deaths Burials at West Norwood Cemetery 19th-century English poets 19th-century English novelists Proletarian literature People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire