Jeffery Farnol

John Jeffery Farnol
Born (1878-10-02)2 October 1878
Aston, Birmingham, England
Died 9 August 1952(1952-08-09) (aged 73)
Eastbourne, England
Pen name Jeffery Farnol
Occupation writer
Language English
Nationality British
Period 1907–1952
Genre Romance
Spouse Blanche Wilhelmina Victoria Hawley (1900–1938),
Phyllis Mary Clarke (1938–1952)
Children 2

Jeffery Farnol (10 February 1878 – 9 August 1952) was a British writer since 1907 until his death, known for writing more than 40 romance novels, some formulaic and set in the Georgian Era or English Regency period, and swashbucklers. He, with Georgette Heyer, founded the Regency romantic genre.

Biography

Personal life

John Jeffery Farnol was born in Aston, Birmingham, England, UK, son of Kate Jeffery and Henry John Farnol, a factory-employed brass-founder. The marriage had three more children, two boys and a girl.[1] He was brought up in London and Kent. He attended the Westminster School of Art, after he had lost his job in a Birmingham metal-working firm.

In 1900, he married Blanche Wilhelmina Victoria Hawley (1883–1955), the 16 years old daughter of the noted New York scenic artist H. Hughson Hawley; they moved to the United States, where he found work as a scene painter. The marriage had a daughter, Gillian Hawley. He returned to England around 1910, and settled in Eastbourne, Sussex. In 1938, he divorced and remarried with Phyllis Mary Clarke on 20 May, and adopted her daughter, Charmian Jane.[2] His nephew was Ewart Oakeshott, the British illustrator, collector and amateur historian, who wrote on medieval arms and armour.

On 9 August 1952 Jeffery Farnol died aged 73 in Eastbourne, after a long battle with cancer.

Writing career

He published his first romance novel My Lady Caprice in 1907. The success of his early novels led Farnol to become a professional writer. He produced around 40 novels and volumes of stories, and some non-fiction and children's books. His last book was completed by his second wife Phyllis.

Two of his early books, The Amateur Gentleman and The Broad Highway, have been issued in a version edited by romance novelist Barbara Cartland. The Amateur Gentleman was adapted for British film in 1920 and 1936, American film in 1926.

Bibliography

Single novels

Treasure and Vengeance Series

  1. Black Bartlemy's Treasure (1920)
  2. Martin Conisby's Vengeance (1921)

Jasper Shrig Series

  1. The Amateur Gentleman (1913)
  2. Peregrine's Progress (1922)
  3. The Loring Mystery (1925)
  4. High Adventure (1926)
  5. The Quest of Youth (1927)
  6. The Way Beyond (1933)
  7. The Crooked Furrow (1937) (Trilogy with 'The Happy Harvest' & 'Waif of the River'(1952))
  8. Murder by Nail (1942) [US Title: Valley of the Night]
  9. Heritage Perilous (1946)
  10. My Lord of Wrybourne (1948) [US Title: Most Sacred of All] Sequel to Heritage Perilous
  11. The Ninth Earl (1950)
  12. Waif of the River (1952)

Omnibus collections

Non fiction

References and sources

  1. ↑ Pat Bryan (2002), Farnol: The Man Who Wrote Best-Sellers, Writers Club Press.
  2. ↑ James Vinson; D. L. Kirkpatrick, Farnol: Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, Cengage Gale

External links

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