[William Blanchard]. English author, born in London, in 1826. After being educated partly in France, he became a journalist, and also produced many farces and comedies; among others, Cool as a Cucumber (1851); and Cupid in Waiting (1870). In 1855 he attended the Paris Exhibition as agent of the London Daily News. In 1862 he wrote a series of articles on the London poor for the Morning Post, and during the next year he went to Paris to examine its institutions for the poor, and some years later he visited the Netherlands for the same purpose. Among his published writings are At Home in Paris (1871); Trip Through the Vineyards of Spain (1864); The Cockaynes (1871); Life of Napoleon III. (1874–82); and Egypt under Ismail Pasha (1879). He died on the 10th of March 1884.
