Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660. His father was a butcher named Foe and Daniel added the De in 1700. He was educated to become a Presbyterian minister but changed his mind and went into business. Defoe started as a hosiery merchant which allowed him to travel throughout Europe. Daniel was against the Roman Catholic King James II, so he took part in the rebellion led by the Duke of Monmouth in 1685. It was unsuccessful.

Defoe's business went bankrupt in 1692, but he had acquired control of a tile and brick factory. In 1695 he began to write starting with Essay on Projects. It was an in-depth analysis on subjects people were arguing about including education for women and care of the mentally handicapped. In 1701 he wrote, "The True-Born Englishman" that attacked racism and national superiority. The next year he wrote, "The Shortest-Way With the Dissenters." It satirized religious intolerance. Although he wrote it anonymously, he was found out and imprisoned. Then he was released in 1793, probably to become an undercover agent and find out who was writing against the government, and to publish propaganda supporting the government.

When Defoe was almost sixty years old, he wrote, "The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe." He also wrote, "Memoirs of a Cavalier" in 1720, "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders" in 1722, to name a few. His books covered various topics including politics, religion, crime, psychology, marriage and the supernatural. Daniel Defoe was the first to write Economic Journalism. During his many years as a writer, he was accredited with at least one hundred and ninety-eight pen names.

During his lifetime Daniel Defoe survived the Great Plague of London in 1665 when over 70,000 died. Then the next year the Great Fire of London whipped through leaving Defoe's house along with two others standing in his neighborhood. In 1703 The Great Storm raged through London causing severe damage. It uprooted millions of trees and killed more than eight thousand people, most of them were at sea. He used the storm as a subject for his book, The Storm, was a place which was a collection of witness accounts of the tempest.

Daniel Defoe's parents were Presbyterian dissenters. He even attended a dissenting academy at Newington Green when he was around fourteen years old. Unfortunately, during this time, people who worshiped any other religion besides the Church of England were persecuted. In 1684 Daniel Defoe married Mary Tuffley. With her came a large dowry of three thousand seven hundred pounds. Since he spent his life with financial difficulties, he had taken up writing for money because he kept failing in businesses, and political dissenting, his marriage was probably troubled, but they were married for fifty years and had eight children.

While hiding from his many creditors, Daniel Defoe died in 1731. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, Borough of Islington, London. A was placed there to show his burial place and eulogize him in 1870.