Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. Known as the Sage of Chelsea, he became "the undoubted head of English letters" in the 19th century. The son of a stonemason, Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, where he attended the village school, Annan Academy, and finally the University of Edinburgh. Graduating with distinction in 1813, he prepared to become a minister in the United Secession Church while working as a schoolmaster, first in Annan and then in Kirkcaldy, teaching mathematics. He eventually lost his religious faith, abandoned the ministry, and resigned from his post in 1818, briefly enrolling as a law student before working as a tutor. In 1819, during a bleak period of his life, Carlyle's discovery of German literature rekindled his belief in God and provided the catalyst for much of his early literary career as an essayist and translator. His first major work, a novel entitled Sartor Resartus (1831) inspired by his own experience, went largely unnoticed. After relocating to London, he wrote The French Revolution: A History (1837) and became prominent. Each of his subsequent works, from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History (1841) to History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great (1858–1865) and beyond, were read widely throughout Europe and North America.