William John Thoms (16 November 1803 – 15 August 1885) was a British writer credited with coining the term "folklore" in 1846.[1] Thoms' investigation of folklore and myth led to a later career of debunking longevity myths, and he was a pioneer demographer.
He was born on 16 November 1803.
Thoms worked as an antiquary, and miscellaneous writer, for many years a clerk in the secretary's office of Chelsea Hospital. He was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and became secretary to the Camden Society in 1838. In 1845, he was appointed Clerk to the House of Lords, and subsequently Deputy Librarian at the House of Lords Library. In 1849, he founded the quarterly journal Notes and Queries, which for some years he also edited.
Thoms is credited with inventing the term "folklore" in an 1846 letter to the Athenaeum.[2] He invented this compound word to replace the various other terms used at the time, including "popular antiquities" or "popular literature". He was fond of the works of Jacob Grimm, which he considered remarkable.
His first book, Early Prose Romances (3 vol. 1827-1828), was published with encouragement from Francis Douce, and gave versions of English tales such as "Robert the Devyl, Thomas a Reading, Friar Bacon, Friar Rush, Virgilius, Robin Hood, George a Green, Tom a Lincolne, Helyas, and Dr. Faustus". Among his publications are Lays and Legends (1834), The Book of the Court (1838), Gammer Gurton's Famous Histories (1846), Gammer Gurton's Pleasant Stories (1848). He also edited Stow's Survey of London in 1842. Thoms was a leading member of the Folklore Society, founded in 1878, though his involvement in its establishment is poorly investigated.
In the 1870s, William Thoms began investigating claims to "ultra-centenarianism." He is credited with first formulating the concept that claims of very old age are typically exaggerated.[3] His book Human Longevity: Its Facts and Fictions (1873) laid down some rules for validating longevity claims.[4]
Thoms died on 15 August 1885 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
Thoms is associated with many publications, as editor, compiler or author. He used the pseudonym Ambrose Merton for several works. He began a column titled Folk-Lore in Charles Wentworth Dilke's Athenaeum in 1846. The same publisher encouraged him to begin Notes and Queries and was editor of this until 1872. His early attempt to produce a collection of folk tales, advertised as "Folk-Lore of England", did not appear, but his later antiquarian publications sometimes reprinted his articles and material from subscribers.
The following is an incomplete list of works:
Primeval Antiquities of Denmark. London, 1849. translating Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae.
