Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1815-1858 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 box (6 cm)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Thomas Babington Macaulay, born in 1800 in Leicestershire, England, was an historian and author. He was educated at Cambridge. After the success of an essay on Milton in the Edinburgh Review in 1925, he contributed regularly to that journal. He was called to the bar in 1826 and elected to Parliament in 1830. After various distinguishing public duties, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Macaulay of Rothley in 1859. He also continued to write during these public appointments, primarily on historical topics. His greatest work was The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, published in 1849. He also wrote several notable short biographical essays on Bacon, Johnson, Warren Hastings, and others. His poetical work, the Lays of Ancient Rome (1842), celebrated the great events of Roman history. He died in 1859.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Professors Jane and Michael Millgate, 1986.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of eleven letters and notes written by Baron Macaulay to his family and friends. Six of the letters were published in Thomas Pinney's edition of Macaulay's letters in 1974. The papers also include one contemporary photograph of Macaulay, one photograph of his portrait in coloured chalk, and one engraving of him.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English