George Walter Thornbury (1828-76)

Born in London as the son of a solicitor. A journalist by profession, he wrote mainly for the Athenaeum. He also wrote verses, novels, art criticism, and historical sketches. His historical topography, Old and New London: A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places (1872), which begins by claiming “[w]riting the history of a vast city like London is like writing a history of the ocean . . . ”, is highly valued as a work of art. He published many other works, including Songs of Cavaliers and Roundheads (1857) and Shakespeare’s England during the Reign of Elisabeth (1856). (M. M.)