# Edward Healy Thompson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edward_Healy_Thompson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edward_Healy_Thompson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Healy_Thompson > Source revision: 1337955685 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Edward Healy Thompson** (1813, [Oakham](/source/Oakham), Rutland - 21 May 1891, [Cheltenham](/source/Cheltenham), Gloucestershire) was an English [Roman Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic) writer. ## Life Thompson was the son of Robert and Mary Costall Thompson. His father was a tax surveyor successively at Oakham, Bath, and Salisbury. The poet [Francis Thompson](/source/Francis_Thompson) was his nephew.[1] He was educated at [Oakham School](/source/Oakham_School) and [Emmanuel College, Cambridge](/source/Emmanuel_College,_Cambridge). Having taken [Anglican](/source/Anglican) orders, he obtained a [curacy](/source/Curacy) at [Calne](/source/Calne), Wiltshire.[2] The clergyman poet [William Lisle Bowles](/source/William_Lisle_Bowles) was a neighbour in nearby [Bremhill](/source/Bremhill). After some years of the Anglican ministry at [Marylebone](/source/Marylebone), [Ramsgate](/source/Ramsgate), and elsewhere, he became a Catholic in 1846. He published as his defence, "Remarks on certain Anglican Theories of Unity" (1846).[3] In 1851, jointly with [James Spencer Northcote](/source/James_Spencer_Northcote) he undertook the editorship of the series of controversial pamphlets known as *The Clifton Tracts*. He was a contributor and sub-editor of the *[Dublin Review](/source/Dublin_Review_(Catholic_periodical))* from 1863 to early 1865,[4] but he and [Henry James Coleridge](/source/Henry_James_Coleridge) left when editor [William George Ward](/source/William_George_Ward) refused to publish a major article on the reviews of [John Henry Newman](/source/John_Henry_Newman)'s *[Apologia Pro Vita Sua](/source/Apologia_Pro_Vita_Sua)*. Ward was inclined to give the book as little publicity as possible.[5] In the mid-1880s, he lived on [Hinde Street](/source/Hinde_Street), [Manchester Square](/source/Manchester_Square).[6] He was a contributor to [Wilfrid Meynell](/source/Wilfrid_Meynell)'s *Merrie England* magazine. The latter years of his life, which were spent at Cheltenham, he devoted to religious literature.[3] ## Works Thompson was a promoter of Catholic literature. Most of this work consisted in the adaptations of foreign books which he thought were of value to English-speaking Catholics. His chief works are: - "A Triumph of Christianity: or, A Few Observations Upon the Discontinuance of "The Tracts for the Times" (1841); and - "The Unity of the Episcopate Considered" (1847); and - "A few earnest thoughts on the Duty of Communion with the Catholic Church" (1847); and - "A Library of Religious Biography": - Vol I. "The Life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, of the Company of Jesus" (1867); and - Vol II. "The Life of Marie-Eustelle Harpain, The Sempstress of Saint-Pallais" (1868); and - Vol III. "The Life of Stanislas Kostka, of the Company of Jesus" (1881); and - Vol IV. "The Life of the Baron de Renty; Or, Perfection in the World Exemplified" (1881); and - Vol V. "The Life of the Venerable Anna Maria Taigi: The Roman Matron" (1873); and - Vol VI. "The Life of Marie Lataste: Lay-Sister of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart" (1877); and - Vol VII. "The Life of Henri-Marie Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux" (1881); and - Vol VIII. "The Life of Leon Papin-Dupont, The Holy Man of Tours" (1881); and - Vol IX. "The Life of Jean-Baptiste Muard: Founder of the Congregation of St. Edme and of the Monastery of La Pierre-qui-Vire" (1886). - "The Life of M. Olier" (1861); and - "The Life and Glories of St. Joseph" (1888); and - "Before and After Gunpowder Plot" (1890). He also translated several works by [Henri-Marie Boudon](/source/Henri-Marie_Boudon): - "Devotion to the Nine Choirs of Holy Angels" (1869); and - "The Hidden Life of Jesus, A Lesson and Model to Christians" (1869); and - "The Holy Ways of the Cross, or, A Short Treatise on the Various Trials and Afflictions, Interior and Exterior, to Which the Spiritual Life is Subject, and the Means of Making a Good Use Thereof" (1875). ## Family On 30 July 1844 at [Marylebone](/source/Marylebone), he married [Harriet Diana Calvert](/source/Harriet_Diana_Thompson), daughter of [Nicholson Calvert](/source/Nicolson_Calvert_(1764%E2%80%931841)) of [Hunsdon](/source/Hunsdon) and Frances Pery, daughter and co-heir of the [Viscount Pery](/source/Edmund_Pery,_1st_Viscount_Pery).[7] Born at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, 1811; Harriet died at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 21 Aug., 1896. On her husband's conversion she also joined the Catholic Church, and like him devoted herself to literary work. Her chief work is the "Life of Charles Borromeo", but she also wrote stories of Catholic life. These include: "Mary, Star of the Sea" (1848); "The Witch of Malton Hill"; "Mount St. Lawrence" (1850); "Winefride Jones" (1854); "Margaret Danvers" (1857); "The Wyndham Family" (1876); and others, as well as articles in the *[Dublin Review](/source/Dublin_Review_(Catholic_periodical))*. ## References 1. [Meynell, Everard. *The Life of Francis Thompson*, Burnes & Oates, 1916, p. 3](https://books.google.com/books?id=pko7AQAAMAAJ&dq=Edward+Healy+Thompson&pg=PA2) 1. [*The Pedigree Register*, Volume 2 (George Frederick Tudor Sherwood, ed.) 1913, p. 354](https://books.google.com/books?id=8987AQAAIAAJ&dq=Harriet+Diana+Thompson&pg=PA354) 1. [Burton, Edwin. "Thompson." The Catholic Encyclopedia](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14703a.htm) Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 28 November 2022 1. [Houghton, Walter E., *The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900*, Routledge, 2013, p. 1577](https://books.google.com/books?id=4j_S2oRpMX4C&dq=Edward+Healy+Thompson&pg=PA1577) ISBN 9781135795498 1. [Newman, John Henry. *Apologia Pro Vita Sua and Six Sermons*, (Frank M. Turner, ed.) Yale University Press, 2008, Intro. p. 45, n.67](https://books.google.com/books?id=mOOVDRj1SIsC&dq=Edward+Healy+Thompson&pg=PA45) ISBN 9780300115079 1. Meynell 1916, p. 68. 1. Meynell 1916, p. 2. ## Sources - Meynell, Everard (1916). [*The Life of Francis Thompson*](https://archive.org/details/lifeoffrancistho00meynuoft/page/n5/mode/2up). Burnes & Oates. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edward Healy Thompson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Healy_Thompson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Healy_Thompson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.