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Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole
(March 13, 1884 - June 1, 1941) U.K.

Hugh Walpole

Writer

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Son of the Edinbourg bishop, born in Auckland, New Zealand, he went to England when he was five, was educated at King's School, Canterbury and Emmanuel College, Cambridge and became a schoolmaster.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole became a novelist. A prolific writer, he published thirty-six novels, five volumes of short stories, two plays and three volumes of memoirs. His skill at scene-setting, his vivid plots, his high profile as a lecturer and his driving ambition brought him a large readership in the United Kingdom and North America. A best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s, his works have been neglected since his death. In 1938 he was knighted.

Walpole’s first important works were the novels Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1911), about two schoolmasters, and The Dark Forest (1916), based on his experiences in Russia during World War I; and the semi-autobiographical novel series that includes Jeremy (1919), Jeremy and Hamlet (1923), and Jeremy at Crale (1927). The Cathedral (1922) reflects his affection for the 19th-century English novelist Anthony Trollope. He also wrote critical works on Trollope, Sir Walter Scott, and Joseph Conrad.

As a gay man at a time when homosexual practices were illegal for men in Britain, Walpole conducted a succession of intense but discreet relationships with other men, and was for much of his life in search of what he saw as "the perfect friend". His encounters were necessarily discreet, as such activities were illegal in Britain, and remained so throughout his lifetime. He eventually found one, a married policeman, with whom he settled in the English Lake District. Harold Cheevers, the policeman, with a wife and two children, left the police force and entered Walpole's service as his chauffeur.

After the outbreak of the Second World War Walpole remained in England, dividing his time between London and Keswick, and continuing to write with his usual rapidity. His health was undermined by diabetes. He overexerted himself at the opening of Keswick's fund-raising "War Weapons Week" in May 1941, making a speech after taking part in a lengthy march, and died of a heart attack at Brackenburn, aged 57. He is buried in St John's churchyard in Keswick.

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Sources: https://www.goodreads.com/ - https://www.britannica.com/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/

Books:

  • Mr. Perrin and Mr.Traill (1911)
  • The Dark Forest (1916)
  • The Secret City (1919)
  • The Cathedral (1922)
  • The Chrystal Box (1924)
  • The Old Ladies (1924)
  • Portrait of a Man with Red Hair (1925)
  • Wintersmoon (1928)
  • Hans Frost (1929)
  • Lakeland Saga (in "Herries Chronicle",1930-33)
  • Judith Paris (1931)
  • Vanessa (1933)
  • Captain Nicholas (1934)
  • A Prayer for My Son (1936)
  • John Cornelius (1937)
  • The Bright Pavillions (1940)
  • Blind man's house (1941)
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