English poet and Egyptologist, born in Hertfordshire. Because his parents were poor, he was made to work in a silk factory and in straw plaiting. In his spare moments from his hard work he educated himself, and he gradually grew knowledgeable about literary works. When he was 21, he became an editor of the Spirit of Freedom, and at the same time he published his first volume of poems, Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love (1850), which was followed by many collections which attracted favorable notice. In 1889, he published a two-volume edition of poems called My Lyrical Life. Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907) was a result of his self-educated efforts in Egyptology, but it was not seriously recognized in the field. Readers of his poetry, however, will notice his scholarly interests reflected in some of his works.    (M. M.)