A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Hughes, Thomas
Hughes, Thomas (1823?-1896).—Novelist and biographer, s. of a Berkshire squire, was ed. at Rugby and Oxf., and called to the Bar in 1848. Much the most successful of his books was Tom Brown's School-days (1856), which had an immense popularity, and perhaps remains the best picture of English public-school life in the language. Its sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford (1861), was a comparative failure, but his Scouring of the White Horse deals in a charming way with his own countryside. He also wrote Lives of Alfred the Great, Bishop Fraser, and D. Macmillan, the publisher. H. devoted much attention to philanthropic work in conjunction with Kingsley and Maurice. In 1882 he was appointed a County Court Judge.