In 1793, Joseph Thackeray was, at nine years of age, placed at Eton School, where he continued for nine years, during which period his gentle manners and amiable disposition, secured him the affection of his companions, while his diligence and good conduct obtained for him the cordial approbation of his teachers. With great natural humility, he possessed both moral and physical courage to support the dictates of his higher sentiments, as many anecdotes both of his boyish and riper years would exemplify. As a boy he ever protected the weak against the strong, the oppressed against the oppressor; and in the cause of his feebler companions he sustained personal conflicts to which he would never, on his own account, have been exposed. In 1802, he was admitted a King's Scholar, of King's College, Cambridge; and, in 1805, was elected a Fellow. In 1806, he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1809, that of Master. On taking his bachelor's degree, he was induced, by the advice of his friends, to adopt medicine as a profession, and, in pursuing his studies, he passed two years at Edinburgh, one at Glasgow, and two in London; after which he became a Bachelor of Physic of Cambridge, in 1812. In 1817 he afterwards completed his academic qualifications, by attaining the university degree of Doctor of Physic.
It is illustrative of the present state of the profession of physic, that though Dr. Joseph Thackeray was eligible to the highest honours of the London College of Physicians, even under its own arbitrary by-laws, he never connected himself with that learned body, by becoming either a fellow or licentiate.
