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Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles, Scottish-English author (died 1904)

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Born
December 23, 1812
Died
April 16, 1904
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1812

About Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904) was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. His primary work, Self-Help (1859), promoted thrift and claimed that poverty was caused largely by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire government. This arrangement enabled Smiles to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1829. His father died in the 1832 cholera epidemic, but Smiles was enabled to continue with his studies because.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Samuel Smiles timeline

  1. This arrangement enabled Smiles to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1829.
  2. His father died in the 1832 cholera epidemic, but Smiles was enabled to continue with his studies because.

The world when Samuel Smiles was born

Samuel Smiles was born in 1812. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineWar of 1812 — US declares war on Britain
  • Technology milestoneFirst canned food sold commercially
  • World population~960M

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJames Madison
  • U.S. population7.7M

1812 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Samuel Smiles's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18122026
Population7.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.