Early years Reid was born in Ballyroney, a hamlet near
Katesbridge,
County Down, in present-day
Northern Ireland, the son of Rev. Thomas Mayne Reid Sr., a senior clerk of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and his wife. His father wanted Reid to become a
Presbyterian minister, and in September 1834 the youth enrolled at the
Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He stayed for four years, but lacked motivation to complete his studies and graduate. He headed back to Ballyroney to teach at a school. In December 1839 Reid boarded the
Dumfriesshire, bound for
New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving in January 1840. He soon found a job as a corn factor's clerk in the corn market. After six months in New Orleans, he is said to have left for refusing to whip slaves. Reid later used Louisiana as the setting of one of his successful books, an anti-slavery novel entitled
The Quadroon (1856). Reid travelled to
Tennessee, where on a plantation near
Nashville he tutored the children of Dr. Peyton Robertson. Some twenty years later, Reid would make mid-Tennessee the setting for his novel
The Wild Huntress. After Robertson's death, Reid founded a short-lived school in Nashville. In 1841 he found work as a clerk for a provision dealer in either
Natchez, Mississippi, or
Natchitoches, Louisiana (the latter seems likelier). Although Reid later claimed to have made several trips West in this period, on which he purportedly based some of his novels, the evidence for this is sketchy and confusing at best.
Literary career In late 1842 Reid arrived in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began writing prose and poetry for the Pittsburgh
Morning Chronicle under a pen-name, the Poor Scholar. He also apparently worked as a carrier for the paper. His earliest verifiable work is a series of epic poems called
Scenes in the West Indies. In early 1843, Reid moved to
Philadelphia for three years, working as a journalist and periodically publishing poetry in ''
Godey's Lady's Book, Graham's Magazine
, the Ladies National Magazine'' and elsewhere, still using his Pittsburgh pseudonym. There he met
Edgar Allan Poe, who became a drinking companion for a time. Poe would later call Reid "a colossal but most picturesque liar. He fibs on a surprising scale but with the finish of an artist, and that is why I listen to him attentively." When the
Mexican–American War began in the spring of 1846, Reid worked as a correspondent for the
New York Herald in Newport, Rhode Island. He set one of his novels here. At this time, he added the pen-name Ecolier to the Poor Scholar. On 23 November 1846, Reid joined the First New York Volunteer Infantry as a second lieutenant, leaving by ship with the regiment in January 1847. They camped for several weeks at Lobos Island before joining Major General Winfield Scott's invasion of Central Mexico, which began on 9 March at
Vera Cruz. Reid as Ecolier was a correspondent for a New York paper,
Spirit of the Times, which published his
Sketches by a Skirmisher. On 13 September, at the
Battle of Chapultepec, Reid received a severe thigh wound while leading a charge. He was afterward promoted to first lieutenant for bravery in battle. On 5 May 1848 he resigned his commission and in July returned to New York with his regiment. ''Love's Martyr'', Reid's first play, was staged at the
Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, for five nights in October 1848. He published
War Life, an account of his army service, on 27 June 1849. Learning of the
Bavarian Revolution, Reid headed for England to volunteer, but after the
Atlantic crossing changed his mind and went home to Ireland instead. He soon moved to London and in 1850 published his first novel,
The Rifle Rangers. This was followed by
The Scalp Hunters (1851; dedicated to Commodore
Edwin W. Moore, whom he met in 1841),
The Desert Home (1852), and
The Boy Hunters (1853). The last, set in
Texas and
Louisiana, was a "juvenile scientific travelogue" that become a favourite with young
Theodore Roosevelt, who became a Reid fan. That year Reid married 15-year-old Elizabeth Hyde, daughter of his publisher, G. W. Hyde, an English aristocrat and his wife. After time off with his new bride, Reid returned to writing. He continued to base his novels on his adventures in America. Several more were successful:
The White Chief (1855),
The Quadroon (1856),
Osceola (1858) and
The Headless Horseman (1865). He spent money freely, including building in
Gerrards Cross,
Buckinghamshire, a sprawling "Rancho", a reproduction of a Mexican
hacienda he had seen during the Mexican–American War, where he took to farming. This extravagance led to
bankruptcy in November 1866, from which he was discharged in January 1867. That October he left London for
Newport, Rhode Island, hoping to repeat his past success in the U.S.. He returned to New York in 1867 and founded the
Onward Magazine there.
Last years Reid lectured at
Steinway Hall in New York and published the novel
The Helpless Hand in 1868, but his popularity had declined in America. His wound from Chapultepec started to bother him and he was hospitalized for several months at St Luke Hospital in 1870. His wife hated the United States. After he was released from the hospital, they returned to England on 22 October 1870, to live at
Ross on Wye,
Herefordshire. In England, Reid continued to write stories and reworked some earlier novels. "The Death Shot" was published in the
Penny Illustrated Paper. In October 1874, an abscess formed on the knee of his wounded leg, leaving him unable to walk without crutches. He was joint editor with
John Latey of ''The Boys' Illustrated News'' for ten months from 6 April 1881. He wrote and published in it "The Lost Mountain; a Tale of Sonora." About this time Reid's creative energy began to flag and he lost popularity, so he turned to farming near Ross in Herefordshire. He continued to write. His last novel,
No Quarter, set in the Parliamentary wars, and his last boys' book,
The Land of Fire, were published after his death on 22 October 1883. He was buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery, now part of London. His tombstone quotes from
The Scalp Hunters: "This is 'weed prairie'; it is misnamed: It is the Garden of God." ==Influence and legacy==