Allingham began his career in banking in his native town, but moved on to a job as a customs officer in 1846. In 1850, he published his first book of poetry, Poems, which did moderately well. In 1864, his Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland appeared; an epic poem which received critical praise, not least of which was from Ivan Turgenev. He retired from the customs house in 1870 and became an assistant editor for Fraser's Magazine and then an editor from 1872. In 1874, he married the artist Helen Paterson, who would later edit his diary, which was published in 1907. The diary is considered to be one of the finest of the Victorian era. Allingham was friends with many of the giants of literature of his day, including Leigh Hunt, Tennyson, Carlyle and Dante Rossetti. His other works include Day and Night Songs (1855), Fifty Modern Poems (1865), Songs, Poems and Ballads (1877), Evil May Day (1883), Blackberries (1884), Irish Songs and Poems (1887), Rhymes for the Young Folk (1887) and Flower Pieces and Other Poems (1888). |
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