Britain Unlimited covers 250 Great British people and what made them famous

Who was Thomas de Quincey? Essayist, Critic and Writer. Date and Place of Birth: 15th August 1785, Manchester, England. Family Background: Fifth child and second son (of eight children) of a successful and wealthy linen merchant. Education: Schools at Salford, Bath and Winkfield. Manchester Grammar School (Ran away from aged 17). Worcester College, Oxford (failed to take degree). Chronology: 1792: Death of his father and taken by his mother to live in Bath. 1802: Ran away from school and toured Wales with the blessing of his mother and his uncle. Finally ended up living in London with a prostitute called Ann. 1803: Returned to his family. 1804: First stared using opium at Worcester College, Oxford when he used it for relief from neuralgia. 1807: Meets Samuel Taylor Coleridge for the first time in Bath. Travels as escort to the Lake District with Sara Coleridge and her two sons whilst Coleridge is lecturing in London. 1809: Rented Dove Cottage, Grasmere after it was vacated by Wordsworth and Coleridge so that he could be near the two poets. 1812: Started a series of illnesses which meant he took stronger and stronger doses of laudanum (opium in solution, usually of brandy). 1813: He was now taking up to ten wine glasses of opium a day. 1817: Now taking opium daily. Having used up all of his private fortune from his family he had to earn a living as a journalist and was appointed the Editor of the local Tory newspaper the Westmoreland Gazette. 1821: Left Dove Cottage in Grasmere and moved to London where he wrote for Blackwood's Magazine and the London Magazine. Published his most famous work "Confessions of an English Opium Eater".It became an instant bestseller and an inspiration to other writers. 1826: Moved to Edinburgh with his wife and family of eight children. 1831: Imprisoned for his debts. 1832: Death of one of his sons aged two. 1833: Convicted twice more for debts. 1834: Convicted three times for debts. Death of another of his sons aged eighteen. 1837: After the death of his wife he was convicted twice more for debts. Began taking laudanum more and more frequently. 1841: Moved briefly to Glasgow to try and escape from his creditors. 1842: One of his sons died fighting in the Opium Wars in China. 1843: Lived in a small cottage in Lasswade. 1850: Moved back to Edinburgh. His works began to be put out in book form by publishers both in Britain and the United States. Written Works: 1821: “Confessions of an English Opium Eater.” “Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets.” 1823: "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth." 1825: "Walladmor". 1827: “On Murder Considered as One of the Many Fine Arts.” 1832: "Klosterheim, or the Masque." 1834: "Lake Reminiscences." 1844: "The Logic of Political Economy" 1845: "Suspira de Profundis." 1849: "The English Mail Coach." 1853: "Autobiographical Sketches." 1853: “Selections Grave and Gay.” (1889): Collected Writings." Marriage: 1817: Margaret (Peggy) Simpson, a farmer's daughter whom he had made pregnant. (died 1837). Places of Interest: CUMBRIA: Dove Cottage Museum and Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. Date and Place of Death: 8th December 1859. Edinburgh, Scotland.                Age at Death: 74. Site of Grave: West Churchyard in Edinburgh next to his wife and two of his children.