George Alfred Lawrence
George Alfred Lawrence (25 March 1827 – 23 September 1876) was a British novelist and barrister.
Biography
George Alfred Lawrence was born at Buxted, Sussex, the eldest child of the Revd Alfred Charnley Lawrence, Curate of Uxfield Chapel, Buxted, and the Hon. Lady Emily Mary Finch-Hatton, sister of George William Finch-Hatton, 5th Earl of Nottingham and 10th Earl of Winchilsea.
He was educated at Rugby and at Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1851 married Mary Ann Georgiana Kirwan. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1852, but soon abandoned the law for literature.
In 1857 he published, anonymously, his first novel, Guy Livingstone, or Thorough. This gained a great popularity, and he went on to write more novels of a similar type. Lawrence may be regarded as the originator in English fiction of the beau sabreur type of hero, great in sport and love and war.
On the outbreak of the American Civil War he went to America with the intention of joining the Confederate Army, but was taken prisoner and only released on promising to return to England. He travelled much in later years and died in Edinburgh.
Writings
Other works include:
- Sword and Gown (1859)
- Barren honour (1862)
- Blanche Ellerslie's ending
- Border and bastille (1863)
- Sans merci; or, Kestrels and falcons (1866)
- Brakespeare; or The fortunes of a free lance (1868)
- Breaking a butterfly (1869)
- Silverland
- Maurice Dering
- Anteros
Notes
References
- Cousin, John William (1910). "
Lawrence, George Alfred". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource - This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lawrence, George Alfred". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Works by George Alfred Lawrence at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about George Alfred Lawrence at Internet Archive
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