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Walter Besant




Sir Walter Besant ( August 14 , 1836 Portsmouth - June 9 , 1901 London ), was a Novelist and Historian from London . His sister-in-law was Annie Besant .

He was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire and educated at King's College, London, and Cambridge , was for a few years a professor at Mauritius , but a breakdown in health compelled him to resign, and he returned to England and took the duties of Secretary to
the Palestine Exploration Fund, which he held 1868 - 85 . He published in 1868
'' Studies In French Poetry ''. Three years later he began his collaboration
with James Rice . Among their joint productions are '' Ready-money Mortiboy '' (1872), and the '' Golden Butterfly '' (1876), both, especially the latter, very successful. This connection was brought to an end by the death of Rice in 1882 . Thereafter B. continued to write voluminously at his own hand, his leading novels being '' All In A Garden Fair '', '' Dorothy Forster '' (his own favourite), '' Children Of Gibeon '', and '' All Sorts And Conditions Of Men ''. The two latter belonged to a series in which he
endeavoured to arouse the public conscience to a sense of the sadness of life among the poorest classes in cities. In this crusade Besant had considerable success, the establishment of ''.

Other works among novels are '' My Little Girl '', '' With Harp And Crown '', '' This Son Of Vulcan '', '' The Monks Of Thelema '', '' By Celia's Arbour '', and '' The Chaplain Of The Fleet '', all with Rice; and '' The Ivory Gate '', '' Beyond The Dreams Of Avarice '', '' The Master Craftsman '', '' The Fourth Generation '', etc., alone. '' London Under The Stuarts '', '' London Under The Tudors '' are historical.


TRIVIA

  • Justin Besant , Canadian folk-jazz pianist, is the great-great nephew of Walter.




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