Early life

He was the son of a grocer, born at Wimbledon

Wimbledon, London

Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, on 4 March 1776, and was left an orphan at the age of five. He was sent to a boarding school at Galashiels

Galashiels

Galashiels is a burgh in the Scottish Borders, on the Gala Water river. The name is often shortened to "Gala" .Galashiels is a major commercial centre for the Scottish Borders...

 in Selkirkshire

Selkirkshire

Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk is a registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Berwickshire to the north-east, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south...

. In 1785 he was bound apprentice to Alexander Meggett, a book-seller at Dalkeith

Dalkeith

Dalkeith is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the River North Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540...

. He ran away, sold chapbook

Chapbook

A chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...

 at Berwick, and spent time at Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 where he met Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...

, the wood engraver. In Sheffield he obtained employment from Joseph Gales

Joseph Gales, Sr.

Joseph Gales was a journalist, newspaper publisher and political figure. He was the father of the younger Joseph Gales.-Life in Britain:...

, the proprietor of the Sheffield Register, and encountered Tom Paine and Charles Dibdin

Charles Dibdin

Charles Dibdin was a British musician, dramatist, novelist, actor and songwriter. The son of a parish clerk, he was born in Southampton on or before 4 March 1745, and was the youngest of a family of 18....

. Further wanderings took him to Ireland and Wales, and then, after some years at King's Lynn

King's Lynn

King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....

 in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, he came to London in 1796.

In London

He obtained an engagement with William Lane, the proprietor of the Minerva Library, at 53 Leadenhall Street

Leadenhall Street

Leadenhall Street is a street in the City of London, formerly part of the A11. It runs east from Cornhill to Aldgate, and west vice-versa. Aldgate Pump is at the junction with Aldgate...

. He subsequently worked for John and Arthur Arch, the quaker booksellers of Gracechurch Street

Gracechurch Street

Gracechurch Street is a street in the City of London which forms part of the A10. It is home to a number of shops, restaurants, offices and Leadenhall Market....

, where he stayed until he began business on his own account.

Tegg took a shop in partnership with Joseph Dalton Dewick in Aldersgate Street. On 20 April 1800 he married, and opened a shop in St. John Street, Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...

, but lost money through the bad faith of a friend. He took out a country auction license to try his fortune in the provinces. He started with a stock of shilling political pamphlets and some thousands of the Monthly Visitor. With his wife acting as clerk, he travelled and bought up duplicates in private libraries, clearing his debts.

Returning to London in 1805, he opened a shop at 111 Cheapside

Cheapside

Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...

. Printing a series of pamphlets which were abridgments of popular works, he had major success was great. He had up to two hundred title, many of which sold four thousand copies. By 1840 he had published four thousand works on his own account. The Whole Life of Nelson, which he brought out just after the battle of Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 in 1805, sold fifty thousand copies at 6d. and the Life of Mary Anne Clarke

Mary Anne Clarke

Mary Anne Clarke was the mistress of Frederick, Duke of York. Their relationship began in 1803, while he was Commander-in-Chief of the army. Later in 1809, she wrote her memoirs which were published...

 (1810), thirteen thousand copies at 7s. 5d. each. In 1824 he purchased the copyright of William Hone

William Hone

William Hone was an English writer, satirist and bookseller. His victorious court battle against government censorship in 1817 marked a turning point in the fight for British press freedom.-Biography:...

's Everyday Book and Table Book, and, republishing it in weekly parts, made a large profit. He then gave Hone £500 to write ‘The Year Book,’ which proved less successful.
When his own publications began paying well he gave up auctions, which he had continued nightly at 111 Cheapside. In 1824 he made his final move, to 73 Cheapside. In 1825 he started the London Encyclopaedia which ran to twenty-two volumes. He bought remainders on a large scale. He was mentioned as a populariser of literature in Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...

's petition on the copyright bill in April 1839.

In 1835, being then a common councilman of the ward of Cheap, he was nominated an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

, but was not elected. In 1836 he was chosen Sheriff of London; he paid the conventional fine to escape serving, of £400, and added another £100, founding a Tegg scholarship at the City of London School

City of London School

The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...

 and donating a collection of books.

He died on 21 April 1845, and was buried at Wimbledon. He was generally believed to have been the original of Timothy Twigg in Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood was a British humorist and poet. His son, Tom Hood, became a well known playwright and editor.-Early life:...

's 1834 novel Tylney Hall.

Works

His first short book, The Complete Confectioner, reached a second edition. Tegg was also author of:

• ‘Memoirs of Sir F. Burdett,’ 1804.
• ‘Tegg's Prime Song Book, bang up to the mark,’ 1810; third collection, 1810; fourth collection, 1810.
• ‘The Rise, Progress, and Termination of the O. P. War at Covent Garden, in Poetic Epistles,’ 1810.
• ‘Chronology, or the Historical Companion: a register of events from the earliest period to the present time,’ 1811; 5th edit. 1854.
• ‘Book of Utility or Repository of useful Information, connected with the Moral, Intellectual, and Physical Condition of Man,’ 1822.
• ‘Remarks on the Speech of Serjeant Talfourd on the Laws relating to Copyright,’ 1837.
• ‘Handbook for Emigrants, containing Information on Domestic, Mechanical, Medical, and other subjects,’ 1839.
• ‘Extension of Copyright proposed by Serjeant Talfourd,' 1840.
• 'Treasury of Wit and Anecdote,' 1842.
• 'A Present to an Apprentice,' 2nd edit. 1848.

He also edited the twelve numbers of The Magazine of Knowledge and Amusement, 1843–4.

Family

Tegg left three sons, including Thomas Tegg, a bookseller, who died on 15 September 1871 and William.