aisle. He married in 1784 Elizabeth, eldest daughter and coheir of Thomas Maltby of Germans, Buckinghamshire, a woman of considerable ability and character, who was informed and consulted by her husband on all important political matters in which he was engaged. By her the bishop had three sons: William Edward Tomline, M.P. for Truro; George Thomas Pretyman, chancellor of Lincoln and prebendary of Winchester; and Richard Pretyman, precentor of Lincoln. There is a portrait of Tomline, by J. Jackson, now in the possession of Captain Pretyman at Riby Hall, Lincolnshire; an engraving of this by H. Meyer appears in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ and as a frontispiece to Cassan's ‘Bishops of Winchester.’
Tomline's political views are fairly defined by one of his biographers, who described him ‘as a supporter of the prerogative and an uncompromising friend to the existing order of things’ (Cassan, Lives of Bishops of Winchester). His judgment and prudence were fully recognised by Pitt, who admitted him to his confidence more unreservedly than any other friend.
[Gent. Mag. 1828, i. 202 (with portrait); Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Winchester; Lord Malmesbury's Diaries; Stanhope's Life of Pitt; Pellew's Life of Lord Sidmouth; Pitt Papers and private papers at Orwell Park, to which access was kindly given the writer of this article by Captain Pretyman.]
TOMLINS, FREDERICK GUEST (1804–1867), journalist, was born in August 1804. He was originally in the employment of Whittaker & Co., publishers, London, as publishing clerk and literary assistant to George Byrom Whittaker [q. v.] Soon after Whittaker's death in 1847, he commenced business as a publisher in Southampton Street, Strand, London, and there issued a publication called ‘The Self-Educator.’ He next opened a shop for new and secondhand books in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, near the British Museum; but after a while he abandoned business for literary pursuits. In 1831 he was a contributor to Henry Hetherington's ‘Poor Man's Guardian,’ and afterwards to the ‘Weekly Times,’ in which he published the series of articles signed ‘Littlejohn.’ He was for some time sub-editor of ‘Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper,’ and was editorially connected with the ‘Weekly Times’ and with the ‘Leader.’
Tomlins was well acquainted with Shakespeare and Shakespearean literature, and he was the founder of the Shakespeare Society in 1840, and acted as the society's secretary. From 1850 to his death he was the dramatic and fine-art critic of the ‘Morning Advertiser.’ On the death of his uncle, in 1864, he succeeded him as clerk of the Painter-Stainers' Company, an office which had been held by his grandfather. His tragedy, ‘Garcia, or the Noble Error,’ was produced at Sadler's Wells on 12 Dec. 1849 (Sunday Times, 16 Dec. 1849). He died at the Painter-Stainers' Hall, Little Trinity Lane, London, on 21 Sept. 1867, and was buried at St. Peter's Church, Croydon, on 27 Sept.
He was the author of: 1. ‘A Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern,’ 1836, 2 vols. 2. ‘The Past and Present State of Dramatic Art and Literature,’ 1839. 3. ‘A History of England from the Invasion of the Romans,’ 1839, 3 vols.; another edit. 1857, 3 vols. 4. ‘A Brief View of the English Drama, with suggestions for elevating the present condition of the art,’ 1840. 5. ‘The Nature and State of the English Drama,’ 1841. 6. ‘The Relative Value of the Acted and Unacted Drama,’ 1841.
[Bookseller, 30 Sept. 1867; Era, 29 Sept. 1867; Men of the Time, 1865.]
TOMLINS, Sir THOMAS EDLYNE (1762–1841), legal writer, born in London on 4 Jan. 1762, was the eldest son of Thomas Tomlins (d. 1815), solicitor and clerk to the Company of Painter-Stainers, descended from the family of Tomlins in the neighbourhood of Ledbury in Herefordshire and of Hereford. Thomas Edlyne was admitted a scholar at St. Paul's school on 21 Sept. 1769. He matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 27 Oct. 1778, and was called to the bar by the society of the Inner Temple in the Hilary term of 1783. For some years he was editor of the ‘St. James's Chronicle,’ a daily newspaper, and on 30 May 1801 he was appointed counsel to the chief secretary for Ireland. In the same year he became parliamentary counsel to the chancellor of the exchequer for Ireland, a post which he retained until the union of the British and Irish treasuries in 1816. He was knighted at Wanstead House on 29 June 1814, on the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, and in 1818 was appointed assistant counsel to the treasury. In Hilary term 1823 he was elected a bencher of the Inner Temple, and in 1827 he filled the office of treasurer to the society. In January 1831, on the whigs coming into office, he retired from his post in the treasury. He died on 1 July 1841 at St. Mary Castlegate, York.
Tomlins was the author of:
- ‘A Familiar Explanation of the Law of Wills and Codicils,’ London, 1785, 8vo; new edition, 1810.
- ‘Repertorium Juridicum: a General Index
