English novelist, born in Westminster on the 3rd of January 1831; became a master in a country school; entered into business as a printer; issued a magazine in 1862, and was associated in the proprietorship of a provincial newspaper in 1864. He contributed short stories to All the Year Round, Chambers’s Journal, Once a Week, and to a London evening newspaper, The Star, then edited by Justin McCarthy, for which he also wrote a series of articles, entitled Readings by Starlight, published in collected form in 1867. In 1870 he became editor of Cassell’s Magazine. Of his works, including novels, boys’ stories, adventures, sketches, and plays, the following may be named: Webs in the Way (1867); The Sapphire Cross (1871); The Parson of Dumford (1879); Off to the Wilds (1881); Nat the Naturalist (1883); The Rosery Folk (1884); The Silver Cañon (1884); A Double Knot (1890); Cutlas and Cudgel (1890); The Grand Chaco (1892); In an Alpine Valley (1893); Blue Jackets (1893); High Play (1898); A Woman Worth Winning (1898); Nic Revel (1898); Draw Swords (1898); and The Silver Salvers (1898). His works have had much popularity in America.
