— Ch. 1 · A Cleft Lip And A Gentleman's Seat —
Thomas Robert Malthus.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Thomas Robert Malthus was born on the 14th of February 1766 at The Rookery. This small elegant mansion stood near Dorking in Surrey. His father Daniel had purchased the property and converted it from Chertgate Farm into a gentleman's seat. The family sold this home in 1768 and moved to Albury near Guildford. Thomas carried a physical mark that would define his public presence for decades. He possessed a cleft lip and palate which affected his speech. Such birth defects had occurred in previous generations of his family tree. Despite this impediment, his friend Harriet Martineau stated he was the only person she could hear well without her ear trumpet. His voice remained sonorous enough to cut through the noise of conversation.
His lineage traced back through several generations of apothecaries and clergy. His grandfather Sydenham served as clerk of Chancery and director of the South Sea Company. An earlier ancestor Rev. Robert Malthus held the vicarage of Northolt under Cromwell before being evicted at the Restoration. That ancient divine man was described as mighty in Scriptures yet defective in elocution due to a great impediment in utterance. Young Thomas received education at Warrington Academy starting in 1782. Gilbert Wakefield taught him there until the dissenting academy closed its doors in 1783. He continued tutoring by Wakefield at Bramcote in Nottinghamshire. In 1784 he entered Jesus College Cambridge where he took prizes in English declamation and Latin. He graduated with honours as Ninth Wrangler in mathematics. William Frend served as his tutor during these formative years.
The Essay On Population And The Trap
Malthus came to prominence for his 1798 publication An Essay on the Principle of Population. He wrote the original text in reaction to the optimism of his father and associates like Jean-Jacques Rousseau regarding society's future improvement. He constructed his case as a specific response to writings of William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet who lived from 1743 to 1794. Many questioned and criticised the book immediately upon release. In response he published six revisions of the work before 1826. Each time he updated the book to incorporate new material and address criticism. He also conveyed changes in his own perspectives on the subject over those decades.
In the essay Malthus argued that population growth generally expanded in times and regions of plenty. This expansion continued until the size of the population relative to primary resources caused distress. He observed that an increase in food production improved well-being but only temporarily. The improvement led to population growth which restored the original per capita production level. Humans had a propensity to use abundance for population growth rather than maintaining a high standard of living. Populations tended to grow until the lower class suffered hardship want and greater susceptibility to war famine and disease. Malthus considered this situation divinely imposed to teach virtuous behavior. He stated that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.