Author. He received much acclaim as an author in Victorian England and according to critics, he ranked second in demand only to Charles Dickens. He is best-known for his 1847 novel about a young lady that was too free-spirited for her era, "Vanity Fair," which has been adapted to film several times with the last in 2004. Born the only child of Anne Becher and Richmond Thackeray, an East India Company administrator, he was sent to England for schooling after his father died in 1815. In 1822, he attended Charterhouse School before entering to Trinity College at Cambridge in 1829. While at Trinity College, he began to write poetry, which was published in "Punch." In 1830, he left Cambridge without taking a degree, and for the following two years studied law at the Middle Temple in London. In 1832, he inherited a large sum of money, but within ten years, lost his fortune through gambling and poor speculation. In 1836, while in Paris, he married Isabella G. C. Shawe. He became the Paris correspondent of his stepfather's newspaper, "The Constitutional," but the paper failed in 1837 with the couple returning to London. After arriving in London, he wrote for the rest of his life articles, book reviews, comic sketches, and art criticism for such periodicals as "The Times," "Fraser's Magazine," "The New Monthly Magazine," and "Punch." After the death of their youngest of two daughters in 1838 and the birth of a third daughter in 1840, his wife sank into a deep Postpartum Depression in 1840 and after attempting to bring harm to herself, was admitted as a patient to private asylums in France or England, where she lived until her death in 1894. His writings were greatly impacted by this life-altering event. Not only did he provide for his wife's care but provided for his widowed for a second mother and for his young daughters. With British law stating a person could not divorce a patient in an insane asylum, he was forced to be a "green grass" widower for the rest of his life. In 1851, he presented a highly successful lecture series, "The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century," following with a lecture tour in the United States in 1852. Besides "Vanity Fair," other well-known publications were "The History of Pendennis" in 1848, the three-volume "The History of Henry Esmond, Esquire" in 1852, "The Newcomers" in 1853, "The Four Georges" and "The Rose and the Ring" both in 1855, "The Virginians" in 1857, "Lovel the Widower" in 1860 and "The Adventures of Philip" in 1861. His 1844 novel, "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" was adapted in 1974 by Warner's Brothers Studio into a film version. Keeping his work current, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, receiving four, and according to the 2020 ranking of "The Irish Times," was "The Best Irish Film of all times." He did draw illustrations for some of his publications. In July of 1857, he was an unsuccessful candidate as a Liberal Member of Parliament from the city of Oxford. His health declined with overeating and alcohol abuse. Following a Christmas Eve celebration, he suffered a cerebral bleed at the age of 52 during the night and was found dead the following morning. Thousands of mourners attended his funeral including Dickens. The next year, his mother died and was interred in same grave, sharing his marker.