Spencer Timothy Hall
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2008) |
Spencer Timothy Hall (16 December 1812 – 26 April 1885) was an English writer and
Early life
He was born in a cottage near
Career
After reading the life of Benjamin Franklin[clarification needed], Hall resolved to become a printer. In January 1829, he went to Nottingham and was apprenticed at the office of The Mercury newspaper. He began writing poetry, and by 1832 he was contributing verse to The Mirror, The Metropolitan Magazine, and other periodicals.
In 1836, Hall returned to Sutton-in-Ashfield, where he started his own printing and bookselling business and printed a monthly periodical called the Sherwood Magazine, in which he published his work under the pseudonym "The Sherwood Forester". In May 1839, he joined the printing firm Hargrove at York. In 1841, he published a volume of prose and verse entitled The Forester's Offering. The book earned Hall an invitation from James Montgomery to Sheffield, where he became co-editor of The Iris newspaper and governor of the Hollis Hospital. He wrote a volume of prose sketches entitled Rambles in the Country for The Iris; it was reissued in an enlarged form in 1853 as The Peak and the Plain. As the result of a visit to Ireland in the famine years he published Life and Death in Ireland as Witnessed in 1849 (1850).
Hall was also interested in popular scientific movements. He was the first honorary secretary of the
About 1852, Hall became a
Personal life
He was married twice: his first wife, Sarah, died only nine months after their wedding; his second marriage produced six children, including the socialist activist Leonard Hall.[1]
Death
He died at Blackpool on 26 April 1885, and was buried in
References
- ISBN 0905679067.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Hall, Spencer Timothy". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.