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Samuel Smiles
Samuel Smiles
Spartacus,
USA History,
British
History, Second
World War, First
World War, Germany,
Parliamentary
Reform, Liberal
Party,
Labour Party,
Socialism,
Author,
Search Website,
Email
Samuel Smiles, the eldest of eleven children, was born on 23rd December,
1812. Samuel's parents ran a small general store in Haddington in
Scotland. After attending the local school he left at fourteen and
joined Dr. Robert Lewins as an apprentice.
After making good progress with Dr. Lewins, Smiles went to Edinburgh
University in 1829 to study medicine. While in Edinburgh, Smiles
became involved in the campaign for parliamentary reform. During this
period he had several articles on the subject published by the progressive
Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle.
Smiles graduated in 1832 and found work as a doctor in Haddington.
Smiles continued to take a close interest in politics and became a
strong supporter of Joseph Hume, the Scottish
radical politician from Montrose. Hume, like Smiles, had trained as
a doctor at Edinburgh University.
In 1837 Samuel Smiles began contributing articles on parliamentary
reform for theLeeds Times. The
following year he was invited to become the newspaper's editor. Smiles
decided to abandon his career as a doctor and to become a full-time
worker for the cause of political change. In the Leeds
Times Smiles expressed his powerful dislike of the aristocracy
and made attempts to unite working and middle class reformers. Smiles
also employed his newspaper in the campaign in favour of factory legislation.
In May 1840 Smiles became Secretary to the Leeds
Parliamentary Reform Association, an organisation that believed
in household suffrage, the secret ballot, equal representation, short
parliaments and the abolition of the property qualification for parliamentary
candidates.
In the 1840s Smiles became disillusioned with Chartism. Although Smiles
still supported the six points of the Charter, he was worried by the
growing influence of Feargus O'Connor,
George Julian Harney and the other advocates
of Physical Force. Smiles now argued
that "mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils
which now afflict society." Smiles stressed the importance of
"individual reform" and promoted the idea of "self-help".
Samuel Smiles began to take a close interest in the ideas of Robert
Owen. He contributed articles to Owen's journal, The Union.
Smiles also helped the co-operative movement in Leeds.
This included the Leeds Mutual Society and the Leeds Redemption Society.
In 1845 Samuel Smiles left the Leeds
Times and became secretary to the Leeds and Thirsk Railway.
After nine years with the Leeds and Thirsk Railway he took up a similar
post with the South-Eastern Railway.
In the 1850s Samuel Smiles completely abandoned his interest in parliamentary
reform. Smiles now argued that self-help provided the best route to
success. His book Self-Help, which
preached industry, thrift and self-improvement was published in 1859.
Smiles also wrote a series of biographies of men who had achieved
success through hard-work. This included George
Stephenson (1875), Lives of the Engineers
(1861) and Josiah Wedgwood (1894).
Samuel Smiles died on 16th April, 1904.
(1)
Samuel Smiles wrote his autobiography in his eighties. The autobiography
was not published until 1905, a year after the death of Samuel Smiles.
1832 Reform Act: Parliament met on the 3rd February 1831, and on the
1st March, Lord John Russell brought forward his measure of Parliamentary
Reform. The whole country was roused by this proposal. Shoals of petitions
were sent in from all quarters; political unions were formed. A monster
meeting was held in the King's Park, Edinburgh, at which I was present
as a spectator, when enthusiastic resolutions were unanimously carried.
At the close of the University Classes at the end of April, 1831,
I returned to Haddington, where I found the same excitement prevailing
about the Bill.
Leeds Times: In 1838 I received a letter which had an important influence
on my future career. It was from Mr. Bingley, reporter for the Leeds
Times, and was written on behalf of Mr.Hobson, the proprietor
of that newspaper. The letter was to the effect: that the prosperity
of the Leeds Times had not continued since the death of Robert
Nicoll (the previous editor); that the circulation had fallen off,
partly through the competition of the Chartist organ, the Northern
Star, conducted by Feargus O'Connor; and that, though Charles
Hooton (present editor) was a most able man, he had somehow not entered
freely into the political movements of the neighbourhood, and that,
in short, he was about to leave, and Mr. Hobson wished to replace
him with another Scotsman.
Chartism: I became Honorary Secretary of the Leeds Parliamentary Reform
Association. We felt that we needed to infuse some new blood into
Parliament by the extension of the franchise. The ten pound suffrage
introduced by the Reform Bill had only enfranchised the middle classes.
Why not extend the suffrage to the industrious people - the working
people. For instance, it was shown that twenty-five small boroughs,
of no importance whatever, sent fifty members to Parliament, whilst
Leeds, with 20,000 more population than all these boroughs combined,
sent only two.
Physical Force Chartism: I went to the public meeting held in New
Palace Yard, on the 17th September, 1838. The object was to petition
Parliament in favour of the People's Charter. The chief speaker was
Feargus O'Connor, who was loud and mouthering. Richardson, his disciple
also spoke. The proceedings were marred by the physical force swagger
of some of the speakers. I did not much admire the London crowd. They
seemed loafers and idlers, not working men.
In 1839 the working people suffered much. Towards the close of the
year, at least 10,000 persons were out of employment in the burgh
of Leeds. Though the people complained, they did not riot. It was
different elsewhere. There were riots at Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle,
and other places. At Newport, in Wales, a Chartist insurrection took
place, which ended in the capture of John Frost and a number of rioters.
At Bradford, men openly practised with pikes and firearms. Sixteen
of them were apprehended by the police, and were sentenced to various
terms of imprisonment. Feargus O'Connor himself was sentenced to eighteen
months' imprisonment for inciting to insurrection and plunder in the
Northern Star.
Joseph Hume: From the time he took his seat in Parliament, down to
the year 1841, when he offered himself to the Leeds constituency,
Joseph Hume distinguished himself by his indefatigable industry. There
is scarcely a page of the parliamentary register which does not contain
some record of his sayings and doings. In the finances, the revenue,
the excise, the public accounts, the army and navy, the representation
of the people, the removal of religious disabilities, he was always
at work. He was the most regular attender, the most consistent voter,
the most laborious investigator, the most active and useful member,
perhaps, who ever sat in Parliament.
Co-operative Movement: Leeds, like other large towns, had a Socialist
Hall. It was afterwards taken by the Mechanics Institute. But when
I first knew it, the place was used for Socialist meetings and lectures.
I went there occasionally to see what was done and said. The body
had preachers or lecturers who could talk cleverly and well. Tome
Paine was the writer most quoted. But unfortunately, they mixed up
a great deal of atheism with their views on co-operation. It was not
until the Revs. Charles Kingsley, Frederick Denison Maurice and Edward
Larken, developed the practice of Christian Socialism that the co-operators
were dragged out of this frightful pit.
Robert Owen had been the beginner of the movement. He held that in
the competitive system was found the root of all the miseries of society.
The metaphysics of Socialism was comprised in the maxim that character
is formed for, not by, the individual; and that society may so arrange
"circumstances" as to produce whatever character it pleases.
There efforts in co-operation were successful. Some of the members
started an Operative Land and Building Society, others a Redemption
Society. They bought land, erected dwellings, built mills, and by
clubbing their means, began to manufacture, and to grind corn for
themselves. Such associations were conducted under the provisions
of the Friendly Societies Act, and many of them proved very successful.
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