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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Samuel Tomkins

Author: Samuel Tomkins (1825–1880)

Biography: Samuel Tomkins was born in 1825 in Yardley, Worcestershire, the son of James and Mary Tomkins. In 1847, he married Elizabeth Parkes and the couple had seven children. He was a long-time resident of Wolverhampton where he work in the hardware business. He found time to write a novel Woodland and Woodbee (1867) and a poem Worth and Wealth (1869) and may have written another novel Tom and his Grandfather (1873). (The latter set in Westmorland is aimed to address the evils of "State-Churchism.") Tomkins died in 1880 in Wolverhampton.

References: British Census (1841, 1851, 1861, 1871)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Woodland and Woodbee: A Tale of Manly Virtue.  1 vol.  London: Houlston and Wright, 1867.
  2. Tom and his Grandfather: A History of the Darcel Family, Shewing from Historical and Other Sources the Social, Political, and Religious Evils Resulting from State-Churchism.  1 vol.  London: Elliot Stock, 1873.