Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thackeray, George
THACKERAY, GEORGE (1777–1850), provost of King's College, Cambridge, born at Windsor, and baptised at the parish church on 23 Nov. 1777, was the fourth and youngest son of Frederick Thackeray (1737-1782), a physician of Windsor, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Abel Aldridge of Uxbridge (d. 1816). Frederick Rennell Thackeray [q. v.] was his younger brother. George became a king's scholar at Eton in 1792, and a scholar of King's College, Cambridge, in 1796. In 1800 he was elected a fellow of King's College, and in the following year was appointed assistant master at Eton. He graduated B.A. in 1802, M.A. in 1805, and B.D. in 1813. On 4 April 1814 he was elected provost of King's College, and in the same year obtained the degree of D.D. by royal mandate.
The death of his second wife in 1818 cast a gloom over Thackeray's subsequent life. He devoted much of his time to collecting rare books, and 'there was not a vendor of literary curiosities in London who had not some reason for knowing the provost of King's.' He directed the finances of the college with great ability. He held the appointment of chaplain in ordinary to George III and to the three succeeding sovereigns.
Thackeray died in Wimpole Street on 21 Oct. 1850, and was buried in a vault in the ante-chapel of King's College. He was twice married: on 9 Nov. 1803 to Miss Carbonell, and in 1816 to Mary Ann, eldest daughter of Alexander Cottin of Cheverells in Hertfordshire. She died on 18 Feb. 1818, leaving a daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth.
[Burke's Family Records; Gent. Mag. 1850, ii. 664; Herald and Genealogist, ii. 4-16; Luard's Grad. Cantabr. p. 513; Registrum Regale, 1847, pp. 8, 51.]