Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

THOMAS MAYNE REID (1818-1883)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 52 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

THOMAS See also:MAYNE See also:REID (1818-1883)  , better known as See also:MAYNE See also:REID, See also:British novelist, the son of a Presbyterian See also:minister, was See also:born at Ballyroney, Co . Down, See also:Ireland, on the 4th of See also:April 1818 . His own See also:early See also:life was as adventurous as any boy reader of his novels could See also:desire . He was educated for the See also:church, but did not take orders, and when twenty years old went to See also:America in See also:search of excitement and See also:fortune . He made trading excursions on the Red See also:river, studying the ways of the red See also:man and the See also:white See also:pioneer . He made acquaintance with the See also:Missouri in the same manner, and roved through all the states of the See also:Union . In See also:Philadelphia, where he was engaged in journalism from 1843 to 1846, he made the acquaintance of See also:Edgar See also:Allan See also:Poe . When the See also:war with See also:Mexico See also:broke out in 1846 he obtained a See also:captain's See also:commission, was See also:present at the See also:siege and See also:capture of See also:Vera Cruz, and led a forlorn See also:hope at Chapultepec, where he sustained such severe injuries that his life was despaired of . In one of his novels he says that he believed theoretically in the military value of untrained troops, and that he had found his theories confirmed in actual warfare . An enthusiastic republican, he offered his services to the Hungarian insurgents in 1849, raised a See also:body of See also:volunteers, and sailed for See also:Europe, but arrived too See also:late . He then settled in See also:England, and began his career of a novelist with the publication, in 185o, of the See also:Rifle Rangers . This was followed next See also:year by the See also:Scalp Hunters .

He never surpassed his first productions, except perhaps in The White See also:

Chief (18J9) and The See also:Quadroon (1856): but he continued to produce tales of self-reliant enter-prise and exciting See also:adventure with See also:great fertility . Simplicity ofplot and easy variety of exciting incident are among the merits that contribute to his popularity with boys . His reflections are not profound, but are frequently more sensible than might be presumed at first from his aggressive manner of expressing them . He died in See also:London on the 22nd of See also:October 1883 . See Memoir (189o) by his widow, See also:Elizabeth Mayne Reid .

End of Article: THOMAS MAYNE REID (1818-1883)
[back]
THOMAS REID (1710-1796)
[next]
WHITELAW REID (1837- )

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.