Algernon Fred Gissing (25 November 1860 – 5 February 1937) was an English novelist and the younger brother of
George Gissing
George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...
. He wrote 25 novels, two collections of short stories and several pieces of travel writing. He died from
heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
.
[Pierre Coustillas,]
Gissing, Algernon Fred (1860–1937)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'' (online), Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2004. Accessed 16 June 2012.
Biography
Gissing was born in
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
,
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
. His parents were Thomas Waller Gissing (1829–1870) and Margaret Gissing (1832–1913), and he had two older brothers named William and
George
George may refer to:
Names
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
People
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE
* George, stage name of Gior ...
. His initial education was at Back Lane School in Wakefield, but from 1870 he started attending
Lindow Grove School in
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
as a
boarder
Boarder may refer to:
Persons
A boarder may be a person who:
*snowboards
*skateboards
*bodyboards
* surfs
*stays at a boarding house
*attends a boarding school
*takes part in a boarding attack
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* ''The Star Boarder'', a 1914 American ...
, as a result of his father's death. He went on to study Law at
London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
, graduating with an
LLB
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
in 1882. He practised as a
solicitor
A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
in Wakefield for a while, but failed to attract enough clients to sustain his practise.
On 8 September 1887, Gissing married Catherine née Baseley (1859–1937), later moving with her to
Broadway, Worcestershire
Broadway is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds, England, with a population of 2,540 at the 2011 census. It is in the far southeast of Worcestershire, close to the Gloucestershire border, midway between ...
. Together they had five children.
Having been unsuccessful in his legal career, Gissing decided to pursue an interest in writing literature. During his life, he wrote and published 30 books, but earned a negligible income from them. He received a number of grants from the
Royal Literary Fund
The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its lon ...
.
Gissing's 1924
Cotswold
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...
walking guide, ''The Footpath Way in Gloucestershire'' was one of the first for the district.
Published works
;Novels
*''Joy Cometh in the Morning'' (1888)
*''Both of This Parish'' (1889)
''A Village Hampden''(1890)
*''A Moorland Idyl'' (1891)
''A Masquerader''(1892)
''Between Two Opinions''(1893)
''A Vagabond in Arts''(1894)
''At Society's Expense''(1894)
''The Sport of Stars''(1896)
''The Scholar of Bygate''(1897)
2nd edition(1898)
''A Secret of the North Sea''(1899)
*''The Wealth of Mallerstang'' (1901)
''The Keys of the House''(1902)
*''Knitters in the Sun'' (1903)
*''An Angel's Portion'' (1903)
*''Arrows of Fortune'' (1904)
''Baliol Garth''(1905)
''The Master of Pinsmead''(1906)
''The Dreams of Simon Usher''(1907)
*''Second Selves'' (1908)
*''The Unlit Lamp'' (1909)
*''The Herdsman'' (1910)
*''Rosanne'' (1910)
*''One Ash'' (1911)
''The Top Farm''(1912)
''A Dinner of Herbs''(1913)
;Short story collections
*''Love in the Byways'' (1910)
;Travel writing
''Broadway'' (in Dent's Temple Topographies)(1904)
''Ludlow and Stokes''(1905)
*''The Footpath-way in Gloucestershire'' (1924)
;Other
*''The Letters of George Gissing to Members of His Family'' (1927) – co-editor with sister Ellen
References
External links
*
1860 births
1937 deaths
19th-century English novelists
20th-century English novelists
English male novelists
19th-century English male writers
20th-century English male writers
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