William Makepeace Thackeray was born in India as the son of a colonial official. In 1815 his father died and in 1817 he was sent to England. In 1829-1830 he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, but left without a degree and went to London, where he studied law from 1831-1832. In 1833 he lost his inherited fortune and went to Paris to study art, there he married the Irishwoman Isabella Shawe in 1836. The marriage produced three daughters, including Anne Thackeray Ritchie, who became a writer herself. The publication of his literary masterpiece Vanity Fair (1847) finally made him a respected author and also brought him material prosperity. He died in London in 1863.