December 23rd 1812 saw the birth of the author and political reformer Samuel Smiles.
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 the doctor he went to the University of Edinburgh age 17 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. He became a strong supporter of Joseph Hume the Scottish radical politician from Montrose. Hume, like Smiles, had trained as a doctor in Edinburgh.
In 1837 Samuel Smiles began contributing articles on parliamentary reform for the Leeds times and was invited to be the editor deciding to abandon his career as a doctor and to become a full-time worker for the cause of political change. In the newspaper 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.
As editor of the Leeds Times, he advocated radical causes ranging from women's suffrage through free trade to parliamentary reform. However, by the late 1840s, he became concerned about the use of physical force by Chartists like Feargus O'Connor and George Julian Harney. Although he seems to have agreed with them that the movement's current tactics were not effective, he also believed that mere political reform would not cure the manifold evils then afflicting society.
In the 1850s he seems to have completely given up on parliamentary reform and other structural changes as a means of social advance and for the rest of his career, he advocated individual self-improvement.
On 7th December 1843, Samuel married Sarah Ann Holmes Dixon in Leeds. They had three daughters, Janet, Edith, and Lillian, and two sons, William and Samuel. In 1845, he left the Leeds Times and became a secretary for Leeds and Thirsk Railway and afterwards for the South Eastern Railway.
In the 1850s, he abandoned his interest in parliament and decided that self-help was the most important item in reform. In 1859, he published his book "Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct". In addition he wrote articles for the Quarterly, where in an article on railways, he argued that the railways should be nationalised and that third-class passengers should be encouraged. In 1866, Smiles became president of the National Provident Institution, but left in 1871, after suffering a debilitating stroke. However, he recovered from the stroke, and eventually learned to read and write again.
In 1875, his book "Thrift" was published. In it he said that, "riches do not constitute any claim to distinction. It is only the vulgar who admire riches as riches". He further claimed that the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 had been "one of the most valuable that has been placed on the statute-book in modern times".
On 16th April 1904, Samuel Smiles died in London and is buried in Brompton Cemetery. Shortly before his death, he was reportedly offered a knighthood, which he declined to accept, a man of principals to the end.
