Frederick James Whishaw (14 March 1854 – 8 July 1934) was a Russian-born British novelist, historian, poet and musician. A popular author of

children's fiction Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

at the turn of the 20th century, he published over forty volumes of his work between 1884 and 1914. He was a prolific

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

ist, many of his books being set in Czarist Russia, and his "schoolboy" and

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

serials appeared in many boys' magazines of the era. Several of these were published as full-length novels, such as ''Gubbins Minor and Some Other Fellows'' (1897), ''The Boys of Brierley Grange'' (1906) and ''The Competitors: A Tale of Upton House School'' (1906).Watson, Benjamin. ''English Schoolboy Stories: An Annotated Bibliography of Hardcover Fiction''. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1992. (pg. 158) Other stories, such as ''The White Witch of the Matabele'' (1897) or ''The Three Scouts: A Story of the Boer War'' (1900), depicted

colonial Africa The colonial history of Africa spans from colonial period until the postcolonial period in the history of Africa. Southern Africa By the 1850s, British and German missionaries and traders had penetrated present-day Namibia. The Herero and N ...

. Whishaw was also one of the first translators of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

. He had several of the Russian author's novels published between 1886 and 1888.Foulkes, Richard, ed. ''Henry Irving: A Re-Evaluation of the Pre-Eminent Victorian Actor-Manager''. Aldershot, UK and Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2008. (pg. 87)

Biography

Frederick James Whishaw was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russian Empire, to English-born parents, Bernard Whishaw of Cheltenham and Isabel Maria Cattley, on 14 March 1854; he was one of eight children. His family had been in the Russian Empire since the 18th century.Cross, Anthony Glenn. ''The Russian Theme in English Literature from the Sixteenth Century to 1980: An Introductory Survey and a Bibliography''. Oxford: Willem A. Meeuws, 1985. (pg. 54) Eight weeks after his birth, his parents moved the family back to Great Britain and settled in

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority, borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the Engli ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

where Whishaw would spend much of his childhood. He was educated at

Leamington College Leamington may refer to: Places * Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England * Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire, England * Leamington, Ontario, Canada * Leamington, Utah, US * Leamington, Cambridge, a suburb of Cambridge, New Zealand Other uses * ...

and then at

Uppingham Uppingham is a market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. ...

where became an accomplished sportsman and

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. He was also popular among his classmates for the food hampers he often received from Russia.Auchmuty, Rosemary, Robert J. Kirkpatrick and Joy Wotton, eds. ''The Encyclopaedia of Boys' School Stories, Volume 2''. Aldershot, UK and Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2000. (pg. 336) At age 16, Whishaw left school and returned to St. Petersburg to work for an office firm. He spent much of his recreational time running and rowing. He also had a collection of verses, ''Loves of the Flowers'', published in 1878. Unhappy with his occupation, Whishaw left ''Hills & Whishaw'' and eventually emigrated to England after his marriage to Ethel Charlotte Moberly on 30 March 1880. Their first and only child, Gwendolen, was born on 13 January 1884. Returning to his childhood home of Paignton, he began a career as a musician and soon became a well-known and successful

. During this time, he also began translating the work of

which was published by

Henry Vizetelly Henry Richard Vizetelly (30 July 18201 January 1894) was a British publisher and writer. He started the publications ''Pictorial Times'' and ''Illustrated Times'', wrote several books while working in Paris and Berlin as correspondent for the '' ...

between 1886 and 1888. His efforts eventually resulted in many of Dostoevsky's novels being made available for English-language readers in

Victorian Britain In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

for the first time. Whishaw was soon inspired to try his hand at writing and had his semi-autobiography, ''Out of Doors in Tsarland: A Record of the Seeings and Doings of a Wanderer in Russia'', published in 1893. A year later, his wrote his first children's novel, ''Boris the Bear-Hunter'', followed by ten more novels between 1895 and 1898, including his first collection of English "schoolboy" stories, ''Gubbins Minor and Some Other Fellows''. These and other stories were published as popular serials in many boys' adventure magazines throughout his career. His schoolboy stories were a mix of gentle humour and more serious themes of public school life such as theft, house matches, and other common behaviour of the time. It was his Russian-themed children's adventure stories and

historical novels Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

for which he was best known. Several of these stories took place in other parts of the world, such as

, as seen in ''The White Witch of the Matabele'' (1897), and focused on then-current events like ''The Three Scouts: A Story of the Boer War'' (1900). Whishaw also wrote several books on

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prin ...

, most notably the well-received ''Moscow: A Story of the French Invasion of 1812'' in 1905. He wrote his final novel, ''A Bespoken Bride'', in 1914 though many of his earlier stories continued to be reprinted for years afterwards. Whishaw died at his home in Slapton,

on 8 July 1934.

Bibliography

*''Loves of the Flowers'' (1878) *''Out of Doors in Tsarland: A Record of the Seeings and Doings of a Wanderer in Russia'' (1893) *''Boris the Bear-Hunter'' (1895) *''A Lost Army: A Tale of the Russians in Central Asia'' (1895) *''The Romance of the Wood'' (1895) *''My Terrible Twin'' (1896) *''Harold the Norseman'' (1896) *''The Emperors Englishman'' (1896) *''Lost in African Jungles'' (1896) *''A Boyar of the Terrible: A Romance of the Court of Ivan the Cruel, First Tsar of Russia'' (1896) *''A Tsar's Gratitude'' (1897) *''The Adventures of a Stowaway'' (1897) *''Elsie's Magician'' (1897) *''The White Witch of the Matabele'' (1897) *''A Russian Vagabond'' (1898) *''Bates and His Bicycle'' (1898) *''A Race for Life'' (1898) *''Called Back to Tsarland'' (1899) *''The Three Scouts: A Story of the Boer War'' (1900) *''Gunpowder Treason and Plot, and Other Stories for Boys'' (1901, co-written with Harold Avery and Richard Townshend) *''A Forbidden Name'' (1901) *''The Lion Cub: A Story of Peter the Great'' (1902) *''A Secret of Berry Pomeroy'' (1902) *''Mazeppa'' (1902) *''The Diamond of Evil'' (1902) *''Near the Tas, Near Death'' (1903) *''The Yellow Satchel'' (1903) *''A Splendid Impostor'' (1903) *''Lost Sir Brian'' (1903) *''Lovers at Fault'' (1904) *''The Tiger of Muscovy'' (1904) *''Countess Ida'' (1904) *''A Grand Duke of Russia'' (1905) *''Moscow: A Story of the French Invasion of 1812'' (1905) *''The Informer'' (1905) *''Her Highness'' (1906) *''King by Combat'' (1906) *''The Boys of Brierley Grange'' (1906) *''The Competitors: A Tale of Upton House School'' (1906) *''A Russian Coward'' (1906) *''The Great Green God'' (1906) *''The Secret Syndicate'' (1907) *''The Madness of Gloria'' (1907) *''The Persecuted'' (1907) *''A New Cinderella'' (1908) *''The Revolt of Beatrix'' (1908) *''A Royal Hoax'' (1908) *''The Luck of the Czar'' (1908) *''The Vortex'' (1909) *''The Degenerate'' (1909) *''A Village Temptress'' (1909) *''Sons of Freedom'' (1987) *''An Empress in Love'' (1910) *''The Heart of Noel'' (1910) *''The Caxborough Scandal'' (1910) *''Clutterbuck's Treasure'' (1910) *''Peter the Great: A Novel'' (1911) *''Gubbins Minor, and Some Other Fellows'' (1913) *''Nathalia: A Tale'' (1913) *''A Bespoken Bride'' (1914)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whishaw, Fred 1854 births 1934 deaths 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists 19th-century English short story writers People educated at Uppingham School Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom English tenors English male poets English historical novelists English children's writers English science fiction writers People of the Victorian era Musicians from Devon Writers about Russia Translators of Fyodor Dostoyevsky English male short story writers English male novelists

Biography

Bibliography

References

Further reading

External links