British novelist, born at Glasgow on the 16th of September 1850 and taken to Canada when four years old. He was educated at the Normal school, Toronto, and became headmaster of the public school of Windsor, ON, until 1876, when he joined the editorial staff of the Detroit Free Press. He had an adventurous career as a journalist for five years, and in 1881 came to England. In 1892 he started the Idler together with Mr. Jerome K. Jerome. He published a number of novels and short stories, the best known being The Mutable Many (1897); Countess Tekla (1899) and The Sword Maker (1910). He died at Woldingham, Surrey, on the 21st of October 1912.
