Thomas Carlyle: Biography, Facts and Career

Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. Known as the "sage of Chelsea, London", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the Victorian era. Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan, a village in Dumfriesshire. He attended the University of Edinburgh, where he excelled in mathematics and invented the Carlyle circle. After finishing the school's arts course, he prepared to become a minister in the Burgher Church while working as a schoolmaster. He quit these and several other endeavours before settling on literature, writing for the Edinburgh Encyclopædia and working as a translator. He initially gained prominence in English-language literary circles for his extensive writing on the German Romanticism school of literature and philosophy. These themes were explored in his first major work, a semi-autobiographical philosophical novel entitled Sartor Resartus (1833–34). Carlyle eventually relocated to London, England. There, he published The French Revolution: A History in 1837. Its popular success made him a celebrity, prompting the collection and reissue of his earlier essays under the title Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838–39). His subsequent works were highly regarded throughout Europe and North America, including On Heroes (1841), Past and Present (1843), Cromwell's Letters (1845), Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), and History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great (1858–65). He founded the London Library. He also helped to establish the National Portrait Gallery, London and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. He became Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh in 1865 and received the Pour le Mérite in 1874, among other honours. Carlyle occupied a central position in Victorian culture, being considered the "undoubted head of English letters" and a "secular prophet". Posthumously, a series of publications by his friend James Anthony Froude damaged Carlyle's reputation, provoking controversy about his personal life and his marriage to Jane Welsh Carlyle in particular. His reputation further declined in the aftermaths of the First World War and the Second World War, when his philosophy was seen as a precursor of both fascism and Prussianism. Growing scholarship in the field of Carlyle studies since the 1950s has improved his standing. Although little-read today, Carlyle continues to be recognised as "one of the enduring monuments of [English] literature".

Quick facts about Thomas Carlyle

• Full name: Thomas Carlyle
• Born: 1795-12-04
• Nationality: Kingdom of Great Britain
• Known as: Author
• Wikidata ID: Q151403

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