George Manville Fenn
George Manville Fenn (3 January 1831, Pimlico – 26 August 1909, Isleworth) was a prolific English novelist, journalist, editor and educationalist.[1] Many of his novels were written for young adults. His final book was a biography of his fellow writer for juveniles, George Alfred Henty.
Life and works
Fenn, the third child and eldest son of a butler, Charles Fenn, was largely self-educated, teaching himself French, German and Italian. After studying at Battersea Training College for Teachers (1851–54), he became the master of a national school at Alford, Lincolnshire. He later became a printer, editor and publisher of short-lived periodicals, before attracting the attention of Charles Dickens and others with a sketch for All the Year Round in 1864. He contributed to Chambers's Journal and Once a Week. In 1866, he wrote a series of articles on working-class life for the newspaper The Star. These were collected and republished in four volumes. They were followed by a similar series in the Weekly Times.
Fenn's first story for boys, Hollowdell Grange, appeared in 1867. It was followed by a long list of other novels for juveniles and adults. Having become editor of Cassell's Magazine in 1870, he purchased Once a Week and edited it until it closed in 1879. He also wrote for the theatre.
Fenn and his family lived at Syon Lodge, Isleworth, Middlesex, where he built up a library of 25,000 volumes and took up telescope making. His last book was a biography of a great fellow writer of boys' stories, George Alfred Henty. He died at home on 26 August 1909.[2]
Family
In 1855, he married Susanna Leake; they had two sons and six daughters.[3]
Fenn's works
Novels
References
- ^ Wilman, George (1882), "George Manville Fenn", Sketches of living celebrities, London: Griffith and Farran, pp. 81–84
- ^ G. S. Boulger; rev. Guy Arnold. "Fenn, George Manville (1831–1909)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33105.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) - ^ Boulger, George Simonds (1912). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
External links
- Works by George Manville Fenn at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about George Manville Fenn at Internet Archive
- Works by George Manville Fenn at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Eric Ford: A Forgotten Victorian Author and the Society He Knew. Critical Essay. From Contemporary Review; Sept. 1999.
- "FENN, George Manville". Who's Who biographies, 1901. p. 414.
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