George Manville Fenn

File:Portrait of George Manville Fenn.jpg

George Manville Fenn

George Manville Fenn (3 January 1831, Pimlico – 26 August 1909, Isleworth) was an English novelist, journalist, editor and educationalist.

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.

File:Grave of George Manville Fenn in Isleworth Cemetery.JPG

Grave of George Manville Fenn in Isleworth Cemetery

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.

Family

In 1855, he married Susanna Leake; they had two sons and six daughters.

Fenn's works

Novels

2

External links

• Works by George Manville Fenn at Project Gutenberg
• 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.