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Tom Hood

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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TOM HOOD (1835-1874), English humorist, son of the poet Thomas Hood, was born at Lake House, Wanstead, Essex, on the 19th of January 1835. After attending University College School and Louth Grammar School he entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1853, where he passed all the examinations for the degree of B.A., but did not graduate. At Oxford he wrote his Farewell to the Swallows (1853) and Pen and Pencil Pictures (1857). He began to write for the Liskeard Gazette in 1856, and edited that paper in 1858-1859. He then obtained a position in the War Office, which he filled for five years, leaving in 1865 to become editor of Fun, the comic paper, which became very popular under his direction. In 1867 he first issued Tom Hood's Comic Annual. In 1861 had appeared The Daughters of King Daker, and other Poems, after which he published in conjunction with his sister, Frances Freeling Broderip, a number of amusing books for children. His serious novels, of which CaptainMasters's Children (1865) is the best, were not so successful. Hood drew with considerable facility, among his illustrations being those of several of his father's comic verses. In private life his geniality and sincere friendliness secured him the affection and esteem of a wide circle of acquaintance. He died on the 20th of November 1874.

A memoir by his sister, F. F. Broderip, is prefixed to the edition of his poems published in 1877.