Edwin Gerald Jones Biss (1876–1922) was an English motoring journalist and author of short stories. His stories were often serialised in journals and newspapers.

Family

Biss was born in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of ...

; his mother was Janet Jones from

Otago, New Zealand Otago (, ; ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government region. Its po ...

; his father was physician Cecil Yates Biss. He was educated at University College,

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational private school in Cambridge, England. It is a boarding and day school for about 565 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen. The head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. ...

and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. In the 1901 census, Biss was recorded as visiting Offham Farm, just north of

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. The farm was owned by Alexander Allan (Allen) who was from Marnech,

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

, Scotland. In 1905 Biss married his daughter Sarah Ann Coutts Allan (1878-1952); they had two children: Couttie Margaret Janet Biss (1907-1988) and Godfrey Charles D'arcy Biss (1910-1989). Biss collapsed and died at age 46 whilst visiting his friend Alfred Eyde Manning Foster. Biss' four brothers pre-deceased him; the eldest, Major Harold Cecil Jones Biss, died in 1921 aged 51. Another brother, Dr. Hubert Elwyn Jones Biss (1871-1909), was one of the physicians who attended

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

during his final illness and death at Hawarden Castle.

Career

Biss originally planned a career in the legal profession, but he found success in writing short stories. By 1901, he was describing himself as an "author". In 1903, Biss' his work was regularly appearing in newspapers around the United Kingdom. His works included serialised stories such as ''The Imposter; Bob Pharazin’s Madness; The White Rose; Who Killed Montagu Jerningham'' and later ''The Shadow of the Scaffold''. ''The Dupe'' was published in 1907 and in 1908 ''The Fated Five – The Tale of a Great Tontine''. This was followed by ''Branded'', a story that in 1921 was made into a movie starring

Josephine Earle Josephine Earle (February 23, 1892 – April 26, 1960/1961) was an American silent film actress who worked in the United States and the United Kingdom. Born as Josephine MacEwan (sometimes listed as McEwan), she was of Scottish descent. ...

. ''The House of Terror'' was published in 1909 and the ''Undying Dread'' serialised in 1911. The ''Door of the Unreal'', published in 1920, was a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

story and a change of genre for Biss. His serialisations were also syndicated in the United States and Australia. In addition to fiction, Biss wrote articles about motoring. His work was published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', the ''Evening News'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'', ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News, Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine wit ...

'' and Vanity Fair. In 1909 he published a book called ''Motoring Dicta'', a compendium of his newspaper articles.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biss, Edwin Gerald Jones 1876 births 1922 deaths British motoring journalists English crime fiction writers English mystery writers English short story writers