Richard Barham Middleton

Richard Barham Middleton (28 October 1882 – 1 December 1911) was a British poet, who is remembered mostly for his short stories, in particular The Ghost Ship.

After education at Cranbrook School, Kent, he worked in London for the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation bank, as a clerk, from 1901 to 1907. Unhappy in this, he affected a Bohemian life at night; he is mentioned, in disguised terms, in Arthur Ransome's Bohemia in London. He committed suicide in Brussels. His reputation was kept alive by Edgar Jepson and Arthur Machen, and then later by John Gawsworth. His stories have appeared in many anthologies.

An encounter with the young Raymond Chandler is said to have influenced the latter into postponing his career as writer.

Works

• Poems and Songs (1912)
• Poems and Songs Second Series (1912)
• The Day Before Yesterday (1912) essays
• The Ghost Ship: And Other Stories (1912)
• Monologues (1913)
• Queen Melanie And the Woodboy (1931) novel
• The Pantomime Man (1933) stories
• Richard Middleton (1937, Richards Press) poems

References

• Richard Middleton's Letters to Henry Savage (1929, Mandrake Press) edited by Henry Savage
• Henry Savage; Richard Middleton: The Man And His Work (1922, London: Cecil Palmer)

External links

• Works by Richard Middleton at Project Gutenberg
• "On The Brighton Road" Creative Commons Audio Book.