B
BACON, SIR FRANCIS (LORD VERULAM & VISCOUNT ST ALBANS)
Statesman, philosopher and essayist. Inherited Gorhambury estate in Hertfordshire in 1601 from his elder brother
BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH, 1ST BARON
Founder of the Boy Scouts. A trial camp was held on Brownsea Island in
1907 and in 1908 Scouting for Boys began to appear in parts.
Commissioned in the Hussars, he studied woodcraft, reconnaissance &
scouting whilst stationed in India. Fame came during the Boer War, he
was involved in the defence of Mafeking. He married in 1912. Talented
artist and sculptor
BAKER, DENYS VAL
Novelist & Writer, esp about Cornwall
BALLANTYNE, ROBERT MICHAEL
Writer of boys stories and water colour artist
BALZAC, HONORE DE
Novelist
BARING-GOULD, SABINE
Novelist, Essayist, Hymn Writer ("Onward Christian Soldiers") &
Miscellanous Writer. Married Grace Taylor, a young mill-hand, in 1868.
They had 15 children. Prolific writer - the British Museum catalogue
lists more books by him in his era than any other author
BARRIE, J M (JAMES MATTHEW)
Playwright. Married Mary Ansell in 1894 (divorced 1909). In 1897 he met
Sylvia Llewellyn Davies (daughter of George Du Maurier). She was married
to a barrister and had several young children. When her husband died in
1907 Barrie assumed financial responsibility for them, and, when their
mother died of cancer in 1910 he adopted them. He became devoted to his
secretary, Lady Cynthia Asquith in later life
BATES, HERBERT ERNEST
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Lived at Little Chart in Kent 1931-1974
BAUM, LYMAN FRANK
Children's Writer
BAWDEN, EDWARD
Designer, Book Illustrator and water colour painter. An official War Artist in WW2
BAYNES, PAULINE DIANA
Book Illustrator. Married Fritz Gasch 1961
BEARDSLEY, AUBREY VINCENT
Illustrator & Writer. Art Editor of the Yellow Book for four issues.
Then became Art editor of The Savoy (it contained his only published
written work, three short poems and a short, highly erotic prose version
of the Tannhauser story). Became a Catholic in1897. Died of TB
BEATLES
BECKETT, SAMUEL BARCLAY
Playwright, novelist & writer. Nobel Prize 1969. Went to Paris to
teach in the late twenties but gave it up when he realised he wasn't
suited to teaching. Travelled in Germany and undertook psychotherapy in
London before settling in Paris in 1937. Active in the Resistance. From
1946 he wrote in French
BECKFORD, WILLIAM THOMAS
Writer of Oriental tales & Travel books who inherited the Fonthill
estate in Wiltshire in 1770. He pulled down the existing house, Fonthill
Splendens and in 1796 had the architect James Wyatt build Fonthill
Abbey, a Gothic mansion, for him (it collapsed in 1825 !). His library
was inherited by his son-in-law the 10th Duke of Hamilton, who had
married Beckford's second daughter Susanna
BEE BOOKS
BEERBOHM, SIR MAX (HENRY MAXIMILIAN)
Artist, Book illustrator, Critic and writer. In 1910 married Florence
Kahn, an American actress. They lived in Rapallo on the Italian Riviera.
In 1956 he married Elisabeth Jungmann
BELLOC, JOSEPH HILAIRE PIERRE RENE
Writer. Moved to England in 1878 & naturalized in 1906. Catholic. Married Elodie Agnes Hogan in 1896
BEMELMANS, LUDWIG
Writer & Artist. Emigrated to USA 1914. Married Madeleine Freund in 1935. He died of cancer
BENNETT, ENOCH ARNOLD
Novelist & Dramatist. 1902 moved to France, married a Frenchwoman,
Marguerite Soulie in 1907. Returned to live in England 1908 and lived
with Dorothy Cheston for the rest of his life.
BENSON, EDWARD FREDERICK
Novelist. Father was headmaster of Wellington, and later became
Archbishop of Canterbury. Brother of A C Benson. He lived in Lamb House,
Rye, the former home of Henry James
BENTLEY, NICOLAS CLERIHEW
Book illustrator. Son of E C Bentley. Director of Andre Deutsch from 1950
BERESFORD, ELISABETH
Children's writer. Married broadcaster Max Robertson 1949 (later divorced)
BESANT, SIR WALTER
Novelist, Biographer. Founder of the Society of Authors. Married Mary
Foster-Barham in 1874. Founded the Society of Authors in 1884
BETJEMAN, SIR JOHN
Poet & Architectural Writer. 1933 married Penelope Valentine Hester Chetwode. Knighted 1969. Poet Laureate 1972-1984
BEWICK, THOMAS
Wood Engraver with his brother John. Apprenticed to the Newacstle
engraver Ralph Beilby. Called the restorer of wood engraving. Worked in
black and white. His pupils included John Bewick, Robert Johnson,
Charlton Nesbit, Luke Clennel & William Harvey
BIBLE, THE
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL BOOKS
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SERIES
BINYON, ROBERT LAURENCE
Poet, Playwright, Translator & Critic. Married Cicely Pryor Powell in 1904
BIRD BOOKS
BIRMINGHAM, GEORGE A
Novelist, Playwright and Humorist. Married Adelaide Wynne in 1889. A
rector, he scandalized his protestant parishioners by learning Irish and
joining the Gaelic League
BIRO, VAL (BALINT STEPHEN)
Artist, Writer and Illustrator. Came to Britain in 1939 to study art. He
worked for the Sylvan Press, C & J Temple and John Lehmann.
Designed dustwrappers
BLACK : TWENTY SHILLING SERIES, A & C COLOUR BOOKS
BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON HENRY
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Emigrated to America in 1889,
returning to England in 1899. Lived in Switzerland 1908-14 and became an
undercover agent during the First World War.
BLAKE, QUENTIN SAXBY
Book illustrator & Writer. The 1st Children's Laureate
BLAKE, WILLIAM
Artist, Poet, Mystic & Engraver. Apprenticed to the engraver James
Basire 1772-9. Married Catherine Boucher in 1782 and, together they
wrote, illustrated, printed and bound their own books. Blake perfected
the process of illuminated printing
BLOCH, ROBERT
Science Fiction & Horror Novelist. Married Marion Holcombe in 1940 and Eleanor Alexander in 1964
BLOOMSBURY GROUP
BLUNDEN, EDMUND CHARLES
Poet & Critic. Married Sylvia Norman in 1933 & Claire Poynting in 1945
BLY, ROBERT ELWOOD
Poet, Editor & Translator. Married Carolyn McLean in 1955
BLYTON, ENID
The most successful Children's writer of the 20thC.
BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
Founded in 1793
BOER WAR
BOND, MICHAEL
Children's writer
BOOKER PRIZE
Leading British annual literary prize, launched in 1968 by the cash
& carry firm of Booker McConnell for the best novel in English. In
1995 it was worth £20,000 (and in 1997). It is awarded for a novel first
published between 1st October and 30th September in the year of the
award. In 1999 it was £21,000. Each of the judges is expected to read
well over 100 books for a fee of £3000. In 2003 it became the Man Booker
Prize. The archive is held at Oxford Brookes University. In 2005 the
Man Booker International Prize was inaugurated.
BOOKER PRIZE AUTHORS
BORROW, GEORGE HENRY
Author and Traveller who had an ear for languages. Became agent of the
British & Foreign Bible Society. Married Mary Clarke in 1840
BOSWELL, JAMES
Lawyer and writer. Married Margaret Montgomerie in 1769. The Boswell
papers were discovered at Malahide Castle in Scotland and sold to Yale
University in 1949. He is buried at Auchinleck House
BOWEN, ELIZABETH (DOROTHEA COLE)
Novelist & short story writer. Spent much of her early life living
with relatives in England because of her father's ill-health. Married
Alan Cameron 1923
BOWLES, WILLIAM LISLE
Poet, Antiquary & Critic. Married Madgaden Wake in 1797. He achieved
fame by calling Alexander Pope a second rank poet which provoked a war
of words which even included Byron
BRADBURY, RAY (RAYMOND DOUGLAS)
Science fiction Novelist
BRADDON, MARY ELIZABETH
Sensation Novelist (probably the most successful Victorian woman in
terms of sales) Poet, & Editor. Her books earned £2000 each in the
1860's. In 1861 she began living with the publisher John Maxwell (his
wife was confined to a lunatic asylum) and then married him in 1874.
She was stepmother to his five children and then had children of her own
with him
BRADFORD, BOOKS ON
BRAND, MAX
Writer of westerns, detective stories and the Dr Kildare series. Died
from a shell fragment in his chest whilst a War Correspondent in Italy
BRAZIL, ANGELA
Novelist. Remained single
BRENT-DYER, ELINOR M
Writer of nearly 100 girl's stories. Created the Chalet School Series
BRERETON, CAPT (LT COL) FREDERICK SADLEIR
Writer of boys stories. Cousin of Henty. Married Ethel Lamb in 1898 and Isobel Murdoch in 1953
BRIDGES, ROBERT SEYMOUR
Poet Laureate from 1913. Playwright & Critic. Married Monica Waterhouse in 1884
BRIGGS, RAYMOND (REDVERS)
Writer and illustrator of children's books. Married artist Jean Taprell Clark in 1963 (she died in 1973)
BRITAIN IN PICTURES SERIES
BRITISH MUSEUM
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury
BRITTAIN, VERA MARY
Socialist and writer. Married Professor George E Catlin 1925
BRITTON, JOHN
Book illustrator, esp of steel engravings. Topographer. Worked with E W Brayley
BROCK, HENRY MATTHEW
Book illustrator & Landscape painter. Married his cousin, Doris Joan Pegram in 1912
BROCK, CHARLES EDMUND
Book illustrator & Portrait painter
BRONTE, CHARLOTTE
Novelist. Married one of her father's curates, Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls
in 1854. She died from TB after only nine months of marriage. Nicholls
lived with Rev Patrick Bronte until he died in 1865. He returned to
Ireland and lived until 1906
BRONTE, EMILY JANE
Novelist. The family moved to Haworth parsonage in 1820. Died of TB
BRONTES, BOOKS ABOUT THE
BROOKS, EDWY SEARLES
Writer of Boy's Stories
BROWN, FREDERIC
Novelist
BROWN, GEORGE MACKAY
Novelist. Became a Catholic 1961
BROWNE, GORDON FREDERICK
Book illustrator. The younger son of H K Browne
BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT
Poet. Spinal injury in a fall from a pony meant she never went to
school. Secretly married Robert Browning in 1846. Her father never saw
her again. They lived in Italy. Died of TB in her husband's arms and is
buried in Florence.
BROWNING, ROBERT
Poet. Secretly married and eloped with Elizabeth Barrett in 1846. They
lived in Pisa, Florence and Venice. After Elizabeth's death in 1861 he
settled in London. Died of pneumonia in Venice. Buried in Westminster
Abbey
BUCHAN, JOHN, 1ST BARON TWEEDSMUIR
Novelist, Poet, Biographer, Historian & statesman. Married Susan Gosvenor in 1907
BUCKLAND-WRIGHT, JOHN
Moved to England. Artist - self taught. Married Mary Anderson 1929. Lived in Paris 1930-9
BUKOWSKI, CHARLES
Poet & Novelist
BULLFIGHTING BOOKS, IN ENGLISH
BUNYAN, JOHN
Religious writer. Son a tinker. Drafted into military service in 1644.
Became pastor of Baptist church in Bedford in 1655. Arrested in 1660 for
preaching without a licence, he was imprisoned at Bedford, where he
wrote 6 books. Released 1672 but put back in prison 3 years later
BURGESS, ANTHONY
Novelist, critic, reviewer, translator
BURKE, THOMAS
Novelist, Poet, Essayist & Short Story Writer (esp of stories set in London's East End)
BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB
BURNET, GILBERT
Historian, Biographer & Theologist. Married twice
BURNETT, FRANCES ELIZA HODGSON
Novelist. Involved in Christian Science, Theosophy and Spiritualism.
Emigrated with her family to the USA in 1865. Married Dr Swan Burnett
1873 (divorced 1898). Married Stephen Townsend (divorced 1901)
BURNS, ROBERT
Poet. Having got Jean pregnant he was pursued by her father and so he
planned to escape to America. But his first book of poems made him money
and famous. Married Jean Armour in 1788. He farmed and was an excise
officer, but when his farm failed he moved to Dumfries. Hard drinking
led to endocarditis of which he died
BURROUGHS, WILLIAM SEWARD
Writer. Homosexual. Drug addict 1944
BURROUGHS, EDGAR RICE
Novelist (esp science fiction, westerns, detectives, historical and
adventure books). His books have sold well in excess of 36 million
copies
BURTON, SIR RICHARD FRANCIS
Traveller, Explorer, Translator and writer. Married Isabel Arundell
(1831-96). Explored Somaliland (1854), the Nile (1856-9) and in North
America in 1860. British Consul in Brazil (1864-9), Damascus (1869-71),
Trieste (1872-5). On the night of his death Isabel burned all his
unpublished notes and 41 unpublished MSS, hoping to preserve her
husband's reputation
BUTLER, GWENDOLINE
Crime Novelist. Married Lionel Butler, Professor of Medieval History at St Andrews, in 1949
BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS
BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD
Romantic Poet. Lame from birth. Married heiress Anne Isabella Milbanke
in 1815 (she left him 1816). Spent much of his life travelling in Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Turkey & Greece. Ostracised from England for
having an incestuous affair with Augusta Leigh, his half-sister. Fought
with the Greeks against the Turks. Died in Greece of malaria (or
rheumatic fever)