View source for Tom Hood

{{Short description|English humorist and playwright (1835–1874)}}
{{other people|Thomas Hood}}

{{EngvarB|date=May 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}

{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Tom Hood
| image = Portrait of Tom Hood.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Tom Hood, by [[Elliott & Fry]], albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s–1870s
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1835|1|19|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Leytonstone]], [[Essex]], [[England]]
| death_date = {{Death date|1874|11|20|df=yes}}<br> (aged 39)
| death_place = [[Surrey]], England
| occupation =
| nationality = English
| genre = Satire
| movement =
| alma_mater = [[Pembroke College, Oxford]]
| awards =
| signature =
}}
'''Thomas Hood''' (19 January 1835{{snd}}20 November 1874) was an English humorist, playwright and author. He was the son of the poet and author [[Thomas Hood]]. ''Pen and Pencil Pictures'' (1857) was the first of his illustrated books. His most successful novel was ''Captain Master's Children'' (1865).

==Biography==
[[File:Tom Hood.jpg|left|thumb|200px|{{center|Tom Hood in caricature<br />by [[s:Author:Frederick Waddy|Frederick Waddy]] (1872)}}]]
Hood was born at Lake House, [[Leytonstone]], England, the son of the poet [[Thomas Hood]] and his wife Jane (née Reynolds) (1791–1846).<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|title=Hood, Thomas (1799–1845), poet and humorist|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-13681|access-date=2021-01-02|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/13681|last1=Flint|first1=Joy}}</ref> His elder sister was the children's writer [[Frances Freeling Broderip]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Broderip [née Hood], Frances Freeling (1830–1878), children's writer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-3477|access-date=2021-01-02|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3477}}</ref> After attending [[University College School]] and [[Louth Grammar School]], he entered [[Pembroke College, Oxford]], in 1853.<ref>{{alox2|title=Hood, Thomas}}</ref> There he studied for the Church and passed all the examinations for the degree of BA, but did not graduate.{{cite-needed|date=May 2022}}

At Oxford, he wrote his ''Farewell to the Swallows'' (1853) and ''Pen and Pencil Pictures'' (1854). He began to write for the ''Liskeard Gazette'' in 1856, and edited that paper in 1858 and 1859.{{cite-needed|date=May 2022}} In 1861 he wrote ''Quips and Cranks'', and ''Daughters of King Daher, and other Poems''.<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b166250;view=1up;seq=7 ''The Daughters of King Daher, a Story of the Mohammedan Invasion of Scinde; and other Poems''], Saunders, Otley, and Co. 1861.</ref> The next year, he published ''Loves of Tom Tucker and Little Bo-Peep, a Rhyming Rigmarole'', followed in 1864 by ''Vere Vereker's Vengeance, a Sensation'', and in 1865 by ''Jingles and Jokes for the Little Folks''. His novels included ''A Disputed Inheritance'' (1863), ''A Golden Heart'' (1867),<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3123811;view=1up;seq=5 ''A Golden Heart: A Novel''], [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3123812;view=1up;seq=5 Vol. II], [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3123813;view=1up;seq=5 Vol. III], Tinsley Brothers, 1867.</ref> ''The Lost Link'' (1868),<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/lostlinkanovel01hoodgoog#page/n4/mode/2up ''The Lost Link: A Novel''], [https://archive.org/stream/lostlinkanovel00hoodgoog#page/n4/mode/2up Vol. II], [https://archive.org/stream/lostlinkanovel02hoodgoog#page/n4/mode/2up Vol. III], Tinsley Brothers, 1868.</ref> ''Captain Masters's Children'' (1865),<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101018115079;view=1up;seq=5 ''Captain Master's Children: A Novel''], [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101018115061;view=1up;seq=5 Vol. II], [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101018115053;view=1up;seq=5 Vol. III], Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1865.</ref> and ''Love and Valour'' (1872).<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433074870118;view=1up;seq=7 ''Love and Valor''], James R. Osgood and Company, 1872.</ref> In 1866 he translated Ernest L'Épine's ''La Légende de Croquemitaine''.<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nc01.ark:/13960/t5bc52q44;view=1up;seq=9 ''The Days of Chivalry, or the Legend of Croquemitaine''], Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1866.</ref>

He also wrote two books on English verse composition, several children's books (in conjunction with his sister, [[Frances Freeling Broderip]]), and a body of magazine and journal articles. Hood drew with considerable facility, and illustrated several of his father's comic verses,{{cite-needed|date=May 2022}} some of which were collected in his father's book ''Precocious Piggy''.<ref name=Waddy>{{cite book|last=Anonymous|others=Illustrated by [[s:Author:Frederick Waddy|Waddy, Frederick]]|title=Cartoon Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Men of the Day|chapter=Tom Hood |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cartoon_portraits_and_biographical_sketches_of_men_of_the_day/Tom_Hood|accessdate=2010-12-30|year=1873|publisher=Tinsley Brothers|location=London|pages=64}}</ref><ref>"Clever and kindly Tom Hood, not long before he died, gave me a bound copy of that droll yet sympathetic nursery story, written by his distinguished father the poet and wit, entitled ' The Headlong Career and Woeful Ending of Precocious Piggy.' Tom Hood often told me how, as a little boy, he had enjoyed the comical history, when it was related to him by his father, who had written it especially for the amusement of his children, and who were all, more or less, deeply interested in Piggy's adventures. I have drawn many a laugh and many a tear from the little ones to whom I have read the story, and my copy, a gift from the son, who so cleverly illustrated his father's quaint fancy, is much prized by me." — Squire &  Effie Bancroft, [https://archive.org/stream/mrmrsbancroftono02banc#page/n5/mode/2up ''Mr. & Mrs. Bancroft on and off the Stage''], Vol. II, Chap. 1, Richard Bentley & Son, 1888, p. 13.</ref>

Meanwhile, in 1860, the younger Hood obtained a position in the War Office, which he served for five years. In 1865 he left the War Office when selected as editor of ''[[Fun (magazine)|Fun]]'', a Victorian weekly magazine which became very popular under his direction.  In 1867, he first issued ''Tom Hood's Comic Annual'',{{cite-needed|date=May 2022}} not to be confused with the similarly-named ''Comic Annual'' that had been published in 1830 through 1842 by his father, the senior [[Thomas Hood]] (who, by then, had already died).

In private life, Hood's geniality and sincere friendliness secured him the affection and esteem of a wide circle of acquaintance.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=668}}<ref>"Tom Hood had an influence among the younger writers and artists of his day that cannot be over-rated. He was the most unselfish and least jealous of men. He loved to get his friends about him to talk shop, and to encourage one another in their various callings. Every Friday night of his life, though not particularly blest with this world's riches, he gave a cheery Bohemian supper-party, to which the best fellows in the world were invited. Who that was privileged to attend them can have forgotten Tom Hood's " Friday nights" in South Street, Brompton, where after a pipe and music, conversation, and poetry readings, we sat down to a homely meal of cold joint and
roast potatoes, and discussed all the wonderful things that we youngsters intended to do in the future." — Clement Scott, [https://archive.org/stream/thirtyyearsatpl00scotgoog#page/n8/mode/2up ''Thirty Years at the Play''], The Railway and General Automatic Library, 1891, pp. 20–21.</ref> Some of these friends became contributors to his publications. For example, he befriended the dramatist [[W. S. Gilbert]] and the American journalist [[Ambrose Bierce]],<ref>Robert L. Gale, ''An Ambrose Bierce Companion'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001.</ref> both frequent contributors to ''Fun''. Hood wrote the [[Victorian burlesque|burlesque]], ''Robinson Crusoe; or, The Injun Bride and the Injured Wife'' (1867), together with Gilbert, [[H. J. Byron]], H. S. Leigh and Arthur Sketchley. Hood's ''Fun'' gang also included playwright [[Thomas W. Robertson]], among others.<ref>T. H. S. Escott, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027504368#page/n189/mode/2up "Beginning Work (1865–6)."] In ''Platform, Press, Politics & Play'', J. W. Arrowsmith, 1895.</ref>

Hood's first wife, Susan (on occasion called "Mrs Tom"), died in 1873, at the age of only thirty-seven. He married Justine Rudolphine Charotton (born 1844/5) on 15 August 1874, only a few months before his own death.<ref name=":1">{{Cite ODNB|title=Hood, Thomas [Tom] [known as Thomas Hood the younger] (1835–1874), humorist and journal editor|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-13682|access-date=2021-01-02|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/13682|last1=Howes|first1=Craig}}</ref>

Hood died suddenly in his cottage at [[Peckham Rye]], [[Surrey]], on 20 November 1874 and was buried in Nunhead cemetery.<ref name=":1" />

==Controversy over ''Alice in Wonderland''==
In 1887 the literary critic Edward Salmon suggested<ref>Carolyn Sigler, "Authorizing Alice: Professional Authority, the Literary Marketplace, and Victorian Women's Re-Visions of the Alice Books", ''The Lion and the Unicorn'', Vol. 22, No. 3, September 1998.</ref> that [[Lewis Carroll]] had plagiarised<ref>Florence Becker Lennon, ''Lewis Carroll'', Cassell & Co., 1947, p. 329.</ref><ref>Carolyn Sigler, ''Alternative Alices: Visions and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's Alice Books : An Anthology'', University Press of Kentucky, 1997, p. 206.</ref> Hood's ''[[From Nowhere to the North Pole]]'' (1875)<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/fromnowheretono00hoodgoog#page/n10/mode/2up ''From Nowhere to the North Pole''], Chatto & Windus, 1875.</ref> when writing ''[[Works based on Alice in Wonderland|Alice]]'':

{{quote|Between Tom Hood and Mr. [[Lewis Carroll]]—to call Mr. D. C. Lutwidge by his famous ''nom de plume''—there is more than a suspicion of resemblance in some particulars. ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' narrowly escapes challenging a comparison with ''From Nowhere to the North Pole''. The idea of both is so similar that Mr. Carroll can hardly have been surprised if some people have believed he was inspired by Hood.<ref>Edward Salmon, [https://archive.org/stream/twentiethcentury22londuoft#page/562/mode/2up "Literature for the Little Ones"], ''The Nineteenth Century'', Vol. XXII, October 1887, p. 571.</ref>}}

Carroll replied a month later, in a terse letter to editor of ''[[The Nineteenth Century (periodical)|The Nineteenth Century]]'':

{{quote|SIR, I find it stated, in an article on 'Literature for the Little Ones,' in your October number, that my little book, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' first published in 1865,<ref>''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', Macmillan and Co., 1865.</ref> was probably suggested by the late Mr. T. Hood's 'From Nowhere to the North Pole,' first published in 1864. May I mention, first, that I have never read Mr. Hood's book; secondly, that I composed mine in the summer of 1862, and wrote it out, in the form lately published in facsimile, during 1863? Thus it will be seen that neither book could have been suggested by the other.

As it is, in my view, and no doubt in that of many others of your readers, an act of dishonesty to imitate another man's book without due acknowledgment,<ref>"Perhaps the hardest thing in all literature – at least ''I'' have found it so: by no voluntary effort can I accomplish it: I have to take it as it comes – is to write anything ''original''. And perhaps the easiest is, when once an original line has been struck out, to follow it up, and to write any amount more to the same tune. I do not know if "Alice in Wonderland" was an ''original story'' – I was, at least, no ''conscious'' imitator in writing it – but I do know that, since it came out, something like a dozen story-books have appeared, on identically the same pattern." — Lewis Carroll, [https://archive.org/stream/brunosylvie00carrrich#page/n9/mode/2up "Preface,"] ''Sylvie and Bruno'', Macmillan & Co., 1890, p. xii.</ref> I trust to your sense of justice to allow this reply to the charge brought against me in the above-named article to appear in your forthcoming number.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/twentiethcentury22londuoft#page/744/mode/2up ''The Nineteenth Century''], Vol. XXII, November 1887, p. 744.</ref>}}

In 1889 Carroll even inserted an announcement in the back of ''The Nursery "Alice"'',<ref>"According to Selwyn Goodacre and Jeffrey Stern, the same warning also appeared in the first editions of ''Sylvie and Bruno'' (1890) and ''Sylvie and Bruno Concluded'' (1893), as well in the reprints of the ''People's Edition of Wonderland'' until 1893 and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' until 1894." — Jan Susina, "Imitations of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Anxiety of Influence." In ''The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature'', Chap. V, Routledge, 2010.</ref> correcting his previous explanation and further denying Tom Hood's influence:

{{quote|In October 1887, the writer of an article on "Literature for the Little Ones": in ''The Nineteenth Century'', stated that, in 1864 "TOM HOOD was delighting the world with such works as ''From Nowhere to the North Pole''. Between TOM HOOD and Mr. LEWIS CARROLL there is more than a suspicion of resemblance in some particulars. ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' narrowly escapes challenging a comparison with ''From Nowhere to the North Pole''. The idea of both is so similar that Mr. Carroll can hardly have been surprised if some people have believed he was inspired by HOOD." The date 1864 is a mistake. ''From Nowhere to the North Pole'' was first published in 1874.<ref>"Carroll had contacted his publisher, Macmillan, concerning the matter and learned the British Museum had a first edition of Hood's book dated 1875, although it would have most likely been published early enough to catch the Christmas trade. Macmillan even noted that a review for ''From Nowhere to the North Pole'' had appeared in ''Athenæum'' on 12 December 1874, which described it as "a fantastic history in the style of ''Alice's Adventures''." Once it became apparent that Wonderland was published prior to ''From Nowhere to the North Pole'', Carroll no longer considered that the two texts could have been created independently. He now assumed that Hood must have been imitating him." — Susina (2010), p. 73.</ref>}}

==Legacy and honours==
* British dramatist [[Thomas W. Robertson]] dedicated his play ''[[Society (play)|Society]]'' (1864) to Hood — "To my dear friend Tom Hood this play is dedicated."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/societyandcastee00robeuoft#page/n7/mode/2up ''Society and Caste''], T. Edgar Pemberton (ed.), D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers, 1905.</ref>
* His sister, [[Frances Freeling Broderip]], wrote a memoir of him that was published with an 1877 edition of his poems.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924096224955#page/n9/mode/2up ''Poems: Humorous and Pathetic''], Chatto and Windus, 1877.</ref>
* [[Ambrose Bierce]]'s short story "The Damned Thing" was inspired by an alleged encounter with Tom Hood's spirit.<ref>"In 1875 Hood died. One day, several weeks later, Bierce was walking opposite Warwick Castle when he suddenly felt the presence of his friend in the street. The experience was never forgotten and he made fantastic use of it years later in "The Damned Thing," one of his most famous stories." —  Carey McWilliams, "Ambrose Bierce," ''The American Mercury'', February 1929.</ref><ref>Gale (2001), pp. 131–132.</ref>
* In 1925, [[Tom Hood School]] in [[Leytonstone]] was renamed after Hood.<ref>Victoria County History of Essex, 1973</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|40em}}

'''References'''
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Hood, Tom|volume=13|pages=667–668}}
* {{cite book|last=Anonymous|others=Illustrated by [[s:Author:Frederick Waddy|Waddy, Frederick]]|title=Cartoon portraits and biographical sketches of men of the day|chapter=Tom Hood |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cartoon_portraits_and_biographical_sketches_of_men_of_the_day/Tom_Hood|accessdate=2010-12-30|year=1873|publisher=Tinsley Brothers|location=London|pages=64}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=42752}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Tom Hood}}
* {{Librivox author |id=12238}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Tom}}
[[Category:1835 births]]
[[Category:1874 deaths]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English fantasy writers]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:People educated at University College School]]
[[Category:English male short story writers]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century English short story writers]]
[[Category:Victorian novelists]]
[[Category:Victorian writers]]
[[Category:Writers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest]]
[[Category:People from Leytonstone]]