File:Samuel_Smiles_by_Sir_George_Reid.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Samuel Smiles
Sign in to saveScottish author (1812-1904)
OverviewAI-generated
Samuel Smiles was a Scottish writer, journalist, biographer, and philosopher born in Haddington in 1812. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and held citizenship in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Smiles wrote in English and is described by sources including the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, the Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.
His notable works include *George Moore*, *The diffusion of political knowledge among the working classes*, *Duty*, *El carácter*, and *The story of the life of George Stephenson, railway engineer*. Smiles died in Kensington in 1904 and is buried at Brompton Cemetery.
Synthesized by Vinony from 21 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1812
- Died
- 1904
- Works
- 234
Top works
- George Moore
- The diffusion of political knowledge among the working classes
- Duty
- El carácter
- The story of the life of George Stephenson, railway engineer
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- 23 December 1812, Haddington, East Lothian , Scotland
- Died
- 16 April 1904 (age 91), Kensington , London, England
- Alma mater
- University of Edinburgh
- Known for
- Biographies and self-help books
- Notable work
- Self-Help
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Samuel
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Place of birth
- Haddington
- Place of death
- Kensington
- Occupation
- philosopher
- Educated at
- University of Edinburgh
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Image
- Samuel Smiles by Sir George Reid.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- place of burial
- Brompton Cemetery
- Commons category
- Samuel Smiles
- date of birth
- 1812-12-23
- date of death
- 1904-04-16
- Commons gallery
- Samuel Smiles
- writing language
- English language
- Commons Creator page
- Samuel Smiles
- ethnic group
- Scottish people
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
10 objects attributed to Samuel Smiles, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904) was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. His primary work, Self-Help (1859), promoted thrift and claimed that poverty was caused largely by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire government. It has been called "the bible of mid-Victorian liberalism" and had lasting effects on British political thought.
Early life and education
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Samuel Smiles” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.