Autobiography of Sir Walter Besant (Paperback or Softback)

Autobiography of Sir Walter Besant (1902) is a posthumously published autobiography by Walter Besant. Although he is more widely known for his works of fiction and book-length studies of the city of London, Besant was also a gifted autobiographer whose unique sense of self and rich memories make for an entertaining, informative read. “I am supposing that [man] has the choice offered him, together with an outline of the future―not a future of fate laid down with Calvinistic rigour, but a future of possibility. And as time, past or future, does not exist in the other world, I am supposing that a man can be born in any age that he pleases.” The son of a merchant, Walter Besant would combine ambition with wit to become one of Victorian England’s leading intellectual figures. His autobiography is not just the portrait of a man, but a record of a century that saw empires rise and fall, industry outpace agriculture, and the life of humanity change forever, for better or worse. Unsatisfied with the success and fame he found in his literary work, Besant dedicated himself to social causes and was a true champion of the poor in London and around the world.

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Walter Besant (1836-1901) was an English novelist and historian. Born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, Besant was the son of a wine merchant, whose other children included William, a prominent mathematician, and Frank, the husband of renowned theosophist, socialist, and activist Annie Besant. After attending King’s College London, he enrolled at Christ’s College, Cambridge to study mathematics, graduating with first class honors in 1859. Besant worked for six years as professor of mathematics at Royal College, Mauritius, returning to London in 1867 after a period of ill-health. In 1868, he published his work Studies in French Poetry and was appointed to the Palestine Exploration Fund as Secretary. Three years later, Besant was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn and began his literary collaboration with novelist James Rice. Together, they wrote such successful works of fiction as Ready-money Mortiboy (1872) and The Golden Butterfly (1876).