19th century
A01=Walter Besant
adultery
Author_Walter Besant
British Fiction
Category=DNBL1
Category=DNC
Category=DS
Character Study
Class and Society
death
domestic violence
Early 20th Century
Emotional Depth
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
extramarital affair
infidelity
Literary Classic
Literary Realism
London
London Setting
Maugham's Early Novel
Maugham's Works
miscarriage
pregnancy
Romantic Tragedy
slums
Social Issues
Social Realism
spouse abuse
W. Somerset Maugham
Working-Class Life
Product details
- ISBN 9781513137353
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Sep 2022
- Publisher: West Margin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Although he is largely unspoken of today, Walter Besant was one of the nineteenth century's greatest minds, a novelist, historian, mathematician, and diplomat who played an integral part in shaping Victorian England's cultural and political reality. In the posthumously published Autobiography of Sir Walter Besant, he reflects on his humble upbringings and the ambition that brought him success.
Walter Besant (1836-1901) was an English novelist and historian. Born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, Besant was the son of a wine merchant, whose other children included William, a prominent mathematician, and Frank, the husband of renowned theosophist, socialist, and activist Annie Besant. After attending King’s College London, he enrolled at Christ’s College, Cambridge to study mathematics, graduating with first class honors in 1859. Besant worked for six years as professor of mathematics at Royal College, Mauritius, returning to London in 1867 after a period of ill-health. In 1868, he published his work Studies in French Poetry and was appointed to the Palestine Exploration Fund as Secretary. Three years later, Besant was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn and began his literary collaboration with novelist James Rice. Together, they wrote such successful works of fiction as Ready-money Mortiboy (1872) and The Golden Butterfly (1876).
