Although qualified for several professions, Thomas English preferred journalism. He was the author of the ballad "Ben Bolt" in 1843, which became a national favorite. Dr. English authored many other poems and ballads. Some of his more notable works were, " Ballads of Irish History" and "Boy's Book of Ballads".

He was politically active and after moving to Newark, New Jersey from New York in 1857 he became a member of the New Jersey state assembly in 1863 and 1864 and was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Fifty-fourth. Dr. English then resumed his literary pursuits until his death in Newark.Thomas Dunn English died in Newark, New Jersey, and is buried in Fairmont Cemetery.

He was educated chiefly in private academies and at the Friends' boarding school in Burlington, New Jersey when only seventeen years of age he wrote for the Philadelphia press. He was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, but after a short practice he studied law in Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He edited a daily paper in New York in 1844, and in the following year began the publication of a literary magazine, "The Aristidean," of which only a single volume was issued.

In 1848 he edited a humorous periodical entitled "John Donkey," and in the same year he wrote a work on the French Revolution of that period, in conjunction with G. G. Foster. He removed to Virginia in 1852, where he remained five years, after which he wrote in New York the " Logan Grazier" and other poems descriptive of life and character in that region. In 1859 he settled in New Jersey, where he has since practiced medicine.

Thomas Dunn English was actively engaged in politics, and served in the New Jersey legislature in 1863-1864. William and Mary gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1876. He is the author of several novels, mostly pseudonymous, and of more than twenty dramas, of which "The Mormons" is the only one printed. He wrote "Ben Bolt," a popular song, which first appeared in the New York " Mirror" in 1843, and the "Gallows Goers," a rough but vigorous poem, which had an immense circulation during the agitation of the question of capital punishment from 1845 till 1850.

Among Mr. English's other publications are "Walter Woolfe" (Philadelphia, 1842); "MDCCCXLIV., or the Power of the S. F.," a political satire (New York, 1845); "Poems" (New York, 1855; edition suppressed); "Ambrose Fecit, or the Peer and the Painter" (1869); " American Ballads" (1882); and "Book of Battle Lyrics " and "Jacob Schuyler's Millions" (1886). He has also written numerous pamphlets, and has contributed lyrics and essays to various periodicals.

Source_bio 2:
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia
Copyright © 2001