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Fun Facts Friday: William Makepeace Thackeray

Man of la BookJuly 18, 2025Post a Comment

William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July, 1811-24 December, 1863) was an English writer and illustrator.

Books by William Makepeace Thackeray*

Fun Facts about William Makepeace Thackeray:

William Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India (at the time British India). His father Richmond Thackeray was secretary to the Board of Revenue in the East India Company, and his mother, Anne Becher, was daughter of another secretary of the company.
When he was four years old he was sent to England because his father passed away. His mother stayed behind. The young man’s ship stopped at Saint Helena where he got to see, but not meet, the imprisoned Napoleon.
His academic career was not stellar, to put it generously. After bouncing around from school to school and briefly attending Trinity College, Cambridge, he decided to go and travel around Europe.
Frankly, I can’t blame him and I think everyone should travel.
One of the school he attended was Charterhouse School, a public school in Godalming, Surrey. He did not enjoy his time at the school and eventually wrote a parody about it in his novel Slaughterhouse. Ironically, the Charterhouse Chapel has a monument of Mr. Thackeray.
After returning from his travels, he squandered his inheritance on gambling and funding two newspapers which promptly failed.
On 20 August, 1836 the idle life of William Makepeace Thackeray changed when he married Isabella Gethin Shawe. Mr. Thackeray now had to make a living and employed his sharp wit by writing for several magazines. He wrote sketches, criticism, and even book reviews.
The couple had three daughters, two made it to adulthood including future writer Anne Isabella Thackeray. Sadly, his wife suffered heavily from mental illness, getting professional care throughout her life. She outlived him by nearly three decades.
Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair, which was serialized, made him a celebrity and wanted lecturer by the same upper class people he satirized.
As he wrote more novels, and became a more noted speaker, William Makepeace Thackeray even managed to cross the pond and give lectures in the United States.
William Makepeace Thackeray’s health was an issue for a long time, his excessive eating, drinking, and lack of exercise didn’t help. He suffered a stroke at age 52 after returning home from a restaurant. His funeral was attended by an estimated 7,000 people.