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 long history, from the most famous to the most obscure, whose cases are judged to be deserving. It also operates a Fellowship scheme, placing established writers in universities to encourage writing skills, and to monitor standards of writing in the higher education world.

History

The Fund was founded in 1790 by Reverend David Williams, who was inspired to set up the Fund by the death in

debtors' prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histor ...

of a translator of

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's dialogues, Floyer Sydenham. Ever since then, the charity has received bequests and donations, including royal patronage.Janet Adam Smith, ''The Royal Literary Fund: A Short History''/
/ref> In 1818 the Fund was granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

, and was permitted to add "Royal" to its title in 1845. The Royal Literary Fund has given assistance to many distinguished writers over its history, including

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

Samuel Rousseau Samuel Rousseau may refer to: * Samuel Rousseau (orientalist), British Oriental scholar and printer * Samuel Rousseau (composer), French composer * Samuel Rousseau (artist), French artist {{hndis, Rousseau, Samuel ...

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

Thomas Love Peacock Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 – 23 January 1866) was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels ...

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie (1754–8 May 1821) was a Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist and an indologist. He sur ...

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

Thomas Hood Thomas Hood (23 May 1799 – 3 May 1845) was an English poet, author and humorist, best known for poems such as "The Bridge of Sighs (poem), The Bridge of Sighs" and "The Song of the Shirt". Hood wrote regularly for ''The London Magazine'', '' ...

Richard Jefferies John Richard Jefferies (6 November 1848 – 14 August 1887) was an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influ ...

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

Ivy Compton-Burnett Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, (; 5 June 188427 August 1969) was an English novelist, published in the original editions as I. Compton-Burnett. She was awarded the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel ''Mother and Son''. Her works co ...

Richard Ryan (biographer) Richard Ryan (18 April 1797 – 20 October 1849) was a British writer of Irish descent. He was the son of Oxford Street, London bookseller and publisher Richard Ryan and was educated at St Paul's School, London. Ryan produced the first Irish b ...

Regina Maria Roche Regina Maria Roche (1764 – 17 March 1845) was an Irish Gothic novelist, best known for ''The Children of the Abbey'' (1796) and ''Clermont (novel), Clermont'' (1798). Encouraged by the success of the pioneering Ann Radcliffe, she became a bests ...

and

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was a British writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

. It also helped very many more struggling authors like Anne Burke who found themselves in dire poverty and/or poor health in the period before social security, through small grants. The fund has also helped authors who have faced poverty in later life, such as

Mary Catherine Rowsell Mary Catherine Rowsell (29 December 183915 June 1921) was an English novelist, author of children's fiction, and dramatist. Her education in Belgium and Germany resulted in books based on German folk tales, and on French historical figures. Most ...

who got four grants from the fund. Throughout the nineteenth century and until 1939 much of the charity's money came from an annual fund-raising dinner at which major public and literary figures (including

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 ...

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A m ...

Dr Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, Thackeray,

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

and

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

) exhorted guests to make generous donations. Current funds include the income from these earlier investments and from royalties bequeathed by writers. Among the estates from which the Fund earns royalties are those of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

poet

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

, the novelists

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

and

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English author, philosopher, Christian apologist, journalist and magazine editor, and literary and art critic. Chesterton created the fictional priest-detective Father Brow ...

and children's writers

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

and

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-th ...

. The RLF's chief executive is Edward Kemp, and in 2024

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Camilla was raised in East ...

was announced as the new royal patron.

Fellowship scheme

Income from the

estate has enabled the RLF to establish a Fellowship Scheme to place professional writers in universities in the UK. The Fellowship Scheme was established in 1999 under the guidance of

Hilary Spurling Susan Hilary Spurling ( Forrest; born 25 December 1940) is a British writer, known for her work as a journalist and biographer. Early life and education Born in Stockport, Cheshire, to circuit judge Gilbert Alexander Forrest (1912–1977) and t ...

. It provides a stipend for established writers to work in universities and colleges to help students and staff to develop their writing skills, concentrating particularly on academic writing. Typically, these are one-to-one sessions. Writers employed include novelists, playwrights, poets, translators, writers of non-fiction and of children's books. By the end of 2006, there were 77 Fellows in 47 institutions throughout the mainland UK. The Fellowship Scheme also undertakes research into the state of writing among British students and school pupils and is proactive in promoting the development of writing skills. Between 2002 and 2005, a group of Project Fellowships existed to carry out research into how the work for the Fellowship could be furthered in the future.

Sale of rights

Winnie the Pooh

In 2001, the RLF sold the rights of the character

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

, and others in the series, to

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

. The $350 million deal gave Disney full rights to the franchise until copyright expires in 2026. ''Winnie the Pooh'' author A. A. Milne had sold the rights to the RLF. The RLF gained about $132 million from the deal. Disney first acquired the rights to the characters in the 1960s and paid twice-yearly royalties to the RLF and other beneficiaries.

References

External links

*
Current and past RLF FellowsUK universities with resident RLF Fellows
*
The Royal Literary Fund: A Short History, Janet Adam Smith, president RLF 1976–1984.
{{Authority control Arts organizations established in the 1790s Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in London with royal patronage Organizations established in 1790