Education
He was educated at Merchant Taylors" School His brother, Frank Marzials, was a prolific author of poetry, essays, and biographies and an accountant general in the army. He was knighted in 1904.
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Theo Marzials
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Marzials was described in 1894 as a "poet and eccentric" by parodist Max Beerbohm, and, after writing and performing several popular songs, vanished into obscurity. His poetry is seen as an example of 19th-century aestheticism. In 1870 Marzials started work at the British Museum as a junior assistant in the librarian"s office.
The poem has been chosen as the worst ever by Ross and Kathryn Petras in the 1997 book Very Bad and by the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain along with many other writers and critics.
He is quoted as saying "Am I not the darling of the British Museum reading room?" while inside that same silent room. Marzials worked at the British Museum until his retirement at the age of 32, after which he received a pension of £38 a year.
This was supplemented by royalties from his published work which were estimated at around £1000 annually. The relationship between Marzials and fellow author Edmund Gosse is debated, with some claims that their relationship was more than platonic.
Marzials retired to Colyton, Devon in the early 1900s where he became addicted to chlorodyne.
He died there in February 1920.
