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Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

1800 - 1859

About the Author

Lord Macaulay, born Thomas Babington (1800-1859), was an English historian, peer, politician, and poet. He was an active opponent of slavery, a supporter of education and equality in India, and instrumental to parliamentary reform to increase representation of cities that had become unrepresented relative to rural areas during the rapid industrial growth. He authored a five-volume work on the History of England, and wrote numerous clear-minded, critical essays.

In The Library:

• author: Critical and Historical Essays contributed to the Edinburgh Review, 3 vols. (1825)
• author: Critical and Historical Essays, Vol. 1 (1825)
• author: Critical and Historical Essays, Vol. 2 (1832)
• author: Critical and Historical Essays, Vol. 3 (1838)
• author: Fiat Money Inflation in France (1876)
• author: The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay, in 2 vols. (1823)
• author: Miscellaneous Writings, vol. 1 (1823)
• author: Miscellaneous Writings, Vol.2 (1830)

Quotations:

• Lord Macaulay writes a devastating review of Southey’s Colloquies in which the Poet Laureate’s ignorance of the real condition of the working class in England is exposed (1830) (13 March, 2007)
• Macaulay argues that politicians are less interested in the economic value of public works to the citizens than they are in their own reputation, embezzlement and “jobs for the boys” (1830) (12 January, 2010)
• Macaulay and Bunyan on the evils of swearing and playing hockey on Sunday (1830) (1 March, 2010)
• Macaulay argues that “the main end” of government is the protection of persons and property (1839) (14 December, 2012)