Samual Smiles - Victorian 'Self-Help' Author - Still Relevant Today?

Samuel Smiles, (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904) born in Scotland to parents of modest means, was third of eleven children.

After studying medicine at Edinburgh University he moved to Leeds, becoming editor of the radical Leeds Times.

He later taught apprentices at the Mechanics’ Institute (left), becoming part of the popular working class movement for self-improvement, knowledge and education.  His inspiring and supportive lecture notes became the foundation for Self Help.

Amongst the lecturers who also spoke here in 1884 was the writer, Oscar Wilde. (Thank you to Geoff Dibb, author of  'A Vagabond with a Mission',  for that information : see http://www.oscarwildesociet...)

Victorian society's industrial, inventive powers had lain the foundations of rugged, masculine  individualism. Although Samuel Smiles had been a supporter of the radical Chartist movement and parliamentary reform, he had become disillusioned.

He began to believe that society was only as good as its individuals - individual self improvement was essential for a responsible state. 

Victorian entrepreneurs exploited their workforces, but there was a growing movement to improve conditions - for welfare provision and education. This would obviously benefit industrialists. A fit, literate workforce meant profitability. It would hopefully prevent the revolutionary upheavals witnessed in France.

But there was also a sincere attempt to improve the lives of the 'deserving' poor, i.e. those in poverty who were anxious to help themselves. (In the United Kingdom this Victorian attitude has arisen again given the present shaky economic climate).

So, Samuel Smiles' Self Help was a product of its time.

Smiles illustrated his book with biographies not of great heroes or the rich, but achievers who through relentless hard work had never given up on their ambitions. He meant to encourage ordinary working men to better themselves.

It is easy to imagine that the hard-working men who attended the classes at the Mechanics' Institute were eager recipients of these examples. After all, as Smiles had illustrated, working men who seemed to be  like themselves had made something of their lives. 

Amongst his examples were:

Surprisingly, Smiles did not include a contemporary who had risen from apprentice gardener to architect of the Crystal Palace, Joseph Paxton, surely a perfect example of Victorian 'self-help'.

However, the message was that anyone, with hard work, frugality and thrift could better themselves in life.  To ensure success Smiles' fundamental criteria was:

• Never live beyond your means and never rely on credit.
• Temperance (i.e. abstinence from alcohol) is essential for success.

For Smiles, a Victorian,  these were the basic, elementary foundations for personal advancement.

Samuel Smiles has been criticised for the following reasons:

• The book, Self Help,  keeps the working man subservient. It creates a belief that the individual, despite being a wage slave under industrial capitalism, can break free.
• It ignores the part chance  plays in social/economic advancement.
• Smiles judges success by a  narrow definition. Some great figures would not be seen as successful in his eyes.
• The old and the sick have no  place in Self Help.
• Few women are represented.
• What about natural genius?
• Smiles is a typical  workaholic. The book never mentions pleasure, family or friends.

Others have argued that his book has merit.

• Book’s optimism and energy are compelling. Everyone can do something to better themselves, in a small way,  albeit in the most dreadful and hopeless circumstaces.
• Smiles felt that introducing women as equals at that period in history may have deterred men, his main focus. Yes, this is a  criticism, but we have to see things from the times in which Smiles was writing and his belief that men, as main breadwinners, had to be encouraged.
• Smiles was not against the welfare state. He felt all should have a fair start in life. He talks of      community responsibility and citizenship.
• Smiles’ values of thrift and  independence ultimately provide for elderly and sick.
• Natural genius is irrelevant without hard work.
• National Library of Scotland holds many letters from ordinary people touched by Smiles’ book and attesting to their changed lives.

Whatever we feel about Smiles' approach to self-help and writing as he did from the limitations of a Victorian perspective, we can take from it many nuggets of wisdom to help us in our daily lives today. Sometimes it only takes an optimistic and hopeful attitude to encourage us, whatever the origins.

Smiles died in 1903 aged 92. His funeral procession was second only to Queen Victoria’s.

On the shelves of most homes, next to the Bible, was Self Help.

It is still in print.

Sources:

• BBC Radio 4, Thursday, 2nd   July 2009 The Grandfather of Self-Help
• 50 Self-Help Classics Butler-Bowden on line site