THOMAS ROBERT, was born in 1766, at the Rookery, in the county of Surrey. His father, Daniel Malthus, a gentleman of good family and independent fortune, much occupied in classical and philosophical pursuits, was the friend and correspondent of Rousseau, and ultimately one of his executors. From the age of nine or ten, until the time of his admission at Cambridge, young Malthus remained under private tuition, and was sometimes a solitary pupil in the house of his tutor. He had for his instructors Richard Graves, author of the Spiritual Quixote, and Gilbert Wakefield, the editor of Lucretius and other classics, and the correspondent of Mr Fox.

In 1784 young Malthus was removed from Mr Wakefield's house to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he obtained prizes for declamations both in Latin and in English, and on taking his degree in 1788, his name appeared in the Tripos as the ninth wrangler. He also found time for the cultivation of history, literature, and poetry; and in 1797 he was made fellow of his college. Having about the same time entered into holy orders, he undertook the cure of a small parish in Surrey, but he occasionally resided in Cambridge on his fellowship, for the purpose of pursuing with more advantage the course of study to which he was attached. In 1798 appeared the first edition of his great work, an Essay on the Principle of Population as it affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers, in 1 volume octavo. In this production the general principle of population which Wallace, Hume, and others, had very distinctly enunciated before him, though without foreseeing the consequences which might be deduced from it, was clearly expounded, and some of the important conclusions to which it leads, in regard to the probable improvement of society, were likewise stated and explained; but his proofs and illustrations were still imperfect, and he himself was yet scarcely aware of the whole extent and bearings of the subject. The book, however, was received with some surprise, and excited considerable attention, as an attempt to overturn the theory of political optimism, and to refute, upon philosophical principles, the speculations, then so much in vogue, of Godwin and others, as to the indefinite perfectibility of human institutions. (With respect to Malthus's views, see the articles COLONY and POPULATION.) In 1799 Malthus sailed for Hamburg in search of materials for the exposition of his grand principle, along with Dr Ed. Daniel Clarke and others. He visited Sweden, Norway, Finland, and part of Russia, the only countries at that time open to English travellers. Of this tour he has left other memorials besides those embodied in his own work, and amongst these may be mentioned the valuable notes which have since served to enrich the last volume of Dr Clarke's Travels. During the short peace of Amiens, he visited France and Switzerland; exploring all that was most interesting in these countries, and continuing, wherever he went, to collect facts and documents for the illustration of the principle he had announced, and the completion of his work. In 1805 he was appointed professor of modern history and political economy at Haileybury, a situation in which he remained until his death. It has sometimes been insinuated that Malthus was indebted to his father for those new views of population which first appeared in the essay already noticed, and which subsequently attracted so much attention. For this surmise, however, there appears to have been no foundation whatever. That the mind of Mr Malthus was set to work upon the subject of population in consequence of frequent discussions between his father and himself, he has fully admitted; but no two individuals ever entertained opinions more opposite, or differed more completely respecting the very principle which the one is alleged to have suggested to the other.

Exclusive of the Essay on Population, the principal productions of Mr Malthus were,—An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, 1815; The Principles of Political Economy, 1820; and Definitions in Political Economy, 1827. But none of these made any permanent addition to his fame. The Inquiry in regard to Rent is an ingenious, and probably also an original speculation; but it has since been ascertained that the theory explained by Malthus in his tract, had been discovered and set in a very clear light by Dr Anderson in an Essay on the Corn Laws, published in 1776. The treatise on Political Economy is very ill arranged, and is in no respect either a practical or a scientific exposition of the subject. It is in great part occupied with an examination of parts of Mr Ricardo's peculiar doctrines, and with an inquiry into the nature and causes of value. Nothing, however, can be more unsatisfactory than these discussions. In truth, Mr Malthus never had any clear or accurate perception of Mr Ricardo's theories, or of the principles which determine the value in exchange of different articles. His Definitions have all the faults of his Political Economy, and never exercised any influence.

The latter years of Mr Malthus's life were passed in the society of his family, in the exercise of his ministerial and official duties at the college, and in the cultivation of the studies more immediately connected with them. Most of the statesmen of his time, and all the eminent political economists, embraced his opinions in regard to population, and, in their several departments, paved the way for that practical application of his principles, in regard to the poor laws, which has since taken place. He was honoured with distinctions from several sovereigns of Europe, and elected a member of the most eminent literary and scientific socie- ties, particularly the National Institute of France and the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin. He was one of the founders of the Political Economy Club, and of the Statistical Society. He died at Bath of an affection of the heart, on the 29th of December 1834.