Profile Major Works Resources

Thomas Doubleday, 1790-1870.

Son of a Newcastle soap manufacturer, English Romantic poet, playwright and Radical agitator, critical in the passage of the Parliamentary Reform Act of 1832.  

Thomas Doubleday's wrote several works pertaining to economics, especially money.  But his most famous is perhaps his 1842 book, assaulting Malthus's theory of population, arguing instead that the "the plethoric state invariably checks [the population] and the deplethoric state invariably developes it." (1842, p.20).  Doubleday's argument rested on the simple but curious conjecture that a rich diet actually causes sterility. Ergo, improvement in income and wealth will lead to lower birth rates.  Although somewhat bizarre in its main argument, Doubleday's book was nonetheless quite popular.  Its popularity was helped, in part because several Manchester School folks took it as yet another argument for the repeal of the Corn Laws, arguing that abundant food imports would help curb the population "problem" among the poor.. 

 

  


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Major Works of Thomas Doubleday

  • Sixty-Five Sonnets, 1818 [bk]
  • The Italian Wife, a tragedy 1823 [bk]
  • Babington, a tragedy, 1825 [bk]
  • Remarks on Some Points of the Currency Question in a Review of Mr. Tooke's 'Considerations', 1826
  • The Letters which have appeared in the Newcastle Chronicle on the petition of the Chamber of Commerce of Newcastle upon Tyne, for the continued circulation of local one pound notes, 1828
  • Dioclesian: A dramatic poem, 1829 [bk]
  • A Letter to All the Friends of Parliamentary Reform, on the Present Crisis of Affairs, and on the steps now proper to be taken, 1830
  • The Question of the Vote by Ballot plainly stated, and objections fully examined and refuted : in a letter to John Hodgson, Esq., M.P., 1831 [av]
  • Caius Marius, the plebian consul, a historical tragedy in verse. 1836 [bk]
  • "Letter from Thomas Doubleday Esq. to the Right Hon. Lord Brougham and Vaux", 1837, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine v. 41 (Mar) p.363 (to Henry Brougham)
  • Northern Lights: or, whims, oddities and digressions of the "Northern Liberator", 1838-40
  • The True Law of Population shewn as connected with the Food of the People, 1842 [bk, av]; [1846 2nd ed], [1853 3rd enlarged ed]
  • Hymnarium Anglicanum, or ancient hymns of the Anglican Church, 1844
  • A Financial, monetary and statistical history of England, from the revolution of 1688 to the present time, 1847 [bk, av]  [1859 2nd ed]
  • On Mundane Moral Government, demonstrating it s analogy with a system of material government, 1852  [bk]
  • The Coquet-Dale Fishing Songs, 1852 [bk]
  • The Eve of St. Mark: A romance of Venice, 1856
  • A Political Life of the Sir Robert Peel: An analytical biography, 1856, v.1 [av], v.2 [av]
  • A Letter to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland on the Ancient Northumbrian Nusic, its collection and preservation, 1857 [bk]
  • Why is Money Scarce?: The question answered, in a letter to Thomas John Tayler, Esq., of Earsdon, Northumberland, 1857
  • The Touchstone: a series of letters on social, literary, and political subjects. Originally published in the "Newcastle Daily Chronicle" under the signature of "Britannicus", 1863 
  • Crimes of the Whigs, or a Radical's reasons for supporting the Tory Party at the next general election, 1864 [bk]
  • The War, the Balance of Trade & the Bank Acts, in a Series of Letters Addressed to the Editor of "The Newcastle Chronicle", 1866 [bk]
  • Matter for Materialists: a series of letters in vindication and extension of the principles regarding the nature of existence of the Right Rev. Dr. Berkeley, Lord Bishop of Cloyne, 1870 [bk]

HET

 

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Resources on Thomas Doubleday

 

 
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