William Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India. His father, Richmond Thackeray, was a secretary to the board of revenue in the British East India Company. His mother, Anne Becher, sent him to England for his education when his father died in 1815. He eventually attended the Charterhouse School, which he despised and later parodied as "Slaughterhouse" in his fiction. It was here that his first writing appeared, in the publications The Snob and The Gownsman. His matriculation to Trinity College was delayed by illness, and he dropped out in 1830.
Over the next six years, Thackeray led a scattered and irresponsible life. He traveled all over Europe and met Goethe in Weimar. When he returned...
