Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles (December 23, 1812 – April 16, 1904), was a Scottish author and reformer.

Related Topics:
December 23 - 1812 - April 16 - 1904 - Scottish

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Born in Haddington, Smiles was the eldest of eleven children. He left school at the age of 14 and was apprenticed to a doctor, eventually enabling him to study medicine at Edinburgh University. While studying and after graduating he campaigned for parliamentary reform, contributing articles to the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle and the Leeds Times.

Related Topics:
Haddington - Edinburgh University - Parliamentary reform

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In 1838, he was invited to become the editor for the Leeds Times, a position which he accepted and filled until 1845. In May 1840, Smiles became Secretary to the Leeds Parliamentary Reform Association, an organisation that held to the six objectives of Chartism: universal suffrage for all men over the age of 21; equal-sized electoral districts; voting by secret ballot; an end to the need of MPs to qualify for Parliament, other than by winning an election; pay for MPs; and annual Parliaments.

Related Topics:
1838 - Leeds Times - 1845 - May - 1840 - Chartism - Universal suffrage - Secret ballot - Parliament

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In 1845, Samuel Smiles left the Leeds Times and became secretary to the Leeds and Thirsk Railway and then, nine years later, the South Eastern Railway. In 1866, he left this position to be president of the National Provident Institution, but left in 1871, after suffering a debilitating stroke. He recovered from the stoke, eventually learning to read and write again, and he even wrote books after his recovery. He died in Kensington and was buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Related Topics:
South Eastern Railway - 1866 - National Provident Institution - 1871 - Stroke - Kensington - Brompton Cemetery

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As editor of the Leeds Times, he advocated radical causes ranging from women's suffrage to free trade to parliamentary reform. But by the late 1840s, Smiles became concerned about the advocation of physical force by Chartists Feargus O'Connor and George Julian Harney, though he seems to have agreed with them that the movement's current tactics were not effective, saying that "mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils which now afflict society." In the 1850s he seems to have completely given up on parliamentary reform and other structural changes as a means of social advance. For the rest of his career, he advocated individual self improvement.

Related Topics:
Free trade - 1840s - Feargus O'Connor - George Julian Harney - 1850s

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