Who was Anthony Trollope?
Anthony Trollope was a victorian novelist famous
for his works on the upper classes.
Date and Place of Birth:
24th April 1815, Bloomsbury, London, England.
Family Background:
Fourth son of a barrister and failed gentleman
farmer, Thomas Anthony Trollope and and Frances Milton Trollope,
a lawyer and author.
Education:
Harrow School. (1822-25) Winchester School and
then back to Harrow.
Chronology/Biography of Anthony Trollope:
1816: The Trollope
family move to a country house near Harrow on the expectation of
receiving an inheritance from his father's brother however this
never materialises. Business begins to fail due to Thomas's bad
temper.
1822: Becomes a day
boy at Harrow School. He has a bad experience as one of the poorest
and worst dressed pupils.
1825: He is transferred
to a private school at Sunbury.
1827: Anthony Trollope
is sent to his father's old school, Winchester and is bullied even
by his own brother. His mother goes to America with the three youngest
children but not Anthony with the idea of selling English items
in Cincinnati. This is not a success and contributes to the financial
misfortunes of the family.
1830: He returns
to Harrow School to save money where he again is the but of constant
jibes about his poverty stricken background.
1831: His mother
returns to England and makes her name as a writer and earns the
family some money. His father gives up his legal practice completely
and cannot pay the rent.
1832: His mother's
novel "Domestic Manners of the Americans" a satire of
life in America is hated in the the USA but earns money in Britain.
1834: The Trollope
family move to Bruges in Belgium to escape debt and as Anthony is
unable to win a scholarship to go to University. He learns French
and German hoping to join the Austrian cavalry but decides to return
to London later in the year. He becomes a junior clerk in the General
Post Office and is promoted to clerk after six weeks.
1835: Death of his
father in Bruges.
1836: Death of his
older brother Henry and his younger sister Emily also in Bruges.
1841: He moves to
Banagher in Ireland and takes a job as Deputy Postal Surveyor. There
is no competition for the job and he is eager to move away from
his debts. He enjoys the open countryside and especially fox hunting.
He begins writing novels.
1844: Anthony Trollope
has amassed enough money to marry Rose Heseltine whom, he first
met in a pub. They then move Clonmel in the south of Ireland.
1845: Trollope is
promoted to a post in Mallow, Ireland.
1848: Publishes his
first novel which has an Irish theme, "The Macdermots of Ballycloran".
It is not popular.
1851: Travels to
England as part of his job to investigate and reorganise the rural
mail delivery in the west. He traveled for nearly two years on horseback.
He is said to have conceived the plot of "the Warden"
on a visit to Salisbury Cathedral.
1853: Travels to
Belfast as part of his job.
1854: Travels to
Dublin as part of his job.
1855: "The Warden"
was published and Trollope received half of the publication profits.
Although the money was not huge he was becoming noticed as a novelist.
1857: Anthony Trollope
publishes "Barchester Towers" which is to become one of
the famous Barsetshire series of novels.
1858: Travels in
Scotland, the West Indies and Egypt as part of his job.
1859: Takes up a
post as Surveyor General to the Eastern District of the Post Office
in Waltham Cross, then just outside London. He was responsible for
the postal service in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire,
and parts of Hertfordshire.
1865: (Circa) Trollope
is credited with inventing the Pillar Box, the famous red postal
boxes which where to become a feature of every town in Britain.
He was to write every day between 5.30 and 8.30 a.m. before going
to work, often at the rate of a thousand words per hour. Begins
writing a new series of political novels based on lives of Plantagenet
Palliser and his family.
1867: He had always
dreamed of entering Parliament himself but this was impossible for
a servant of the crown so he resigned his post at the Post Office
having earned enough to tide him over until his pension.
1868: He was successful
in becoming the Liberal Party candidate for Beverley in Yorkshire
at the General Election although he did not enjoy campaigning. He
was not expected to win and came fourth behind two Conservative
Candidates but he was put there by the part hierarchy to expose
the electoral corruption then rife. After the findings of a Royal
Commission the Borough was disenfranchised in 1870. Afterwards he
went back to writing novels and editing the St Paul's Magazine which
serialised some of his material.
1871: Anthony Trollope
traveled to Australia with his wife and cook and arrived at Melbourne
in the summer. The purpose of the visit was to see their younger
son who was a sheep farmer.
1875: Makes a second
trip to Australia to visit his second son and help him close up
his failing farming business.
1880: Trollope settles
in South Harting in West Sussex. Here he became increasingly depressed
and led a solitary life.
Written Works:
- 1847: "The
Macdermots of Ballycloran".
- 1848: "The
Kellys and the O'Kellys"
- 1850: "La
Vendée:An Historical Romance"
- 1855: "The
Warden".
- 1857: "Barchester
Towers".
- 1858: "Doctor
Thorne". "The Three Clerks".
- 1859: "The
Bertrams". "The West Indies and the Spanish Main"
(Travel Book)
- 1860: "Castle
Richmond".
- 1861: "Framley
Parsonage".
- 1862: "Orley
Farm", "The Struggles of Brown, Jones & Robinson",
"North America (Travel Book)
- 1863: "Rachel
Ray"
- 1864: "Can
You Forgive Her?", "The Small House at Allington",
"Malachi's Cove"
- 1865: "Miss
Mackenzie"
- 1866: "The
Belton Estate".
- 1867: "The
Claverings". "The Last Chronicle of Barset". "Nina
Balatka", "Lotta Schmidt & Other Stories"
- 1868: "Linda
Tressel"
- 1869: "He
Knew He Was Right". "Phineas Finn." , "Did
He Steal It?" (Play), "Phineas Finn"
- 1870: "The
Vicar of Bullhampton"
- 1871: "Ralph
the Heir", "Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite"
- 1872: "The
Golden Lion of Granpère"
- 1873: "The
Eustace Diamonds", "Australia and New Zealand"
(Travel Book)
- 1874: "Lady
Anna", "Harry Heathcote of Gangoil", "Phineas
Redux", "New South Wales & Queensland" (Travel
Book)
- 1875: "The
Way We Live Now".
- 1876: "The
Prime Minister".
- 1877: "The
American Senator".
- 1878: "Is
He Popenjoy?", "South Africa"
(Travel Book)
- 1879: "Thackeray",
"Cousin Henry", "An Eye for an Eye", "John
Caldigate"
- 1880: "The
Duke's Children", "Life of Cicero" (Biography)
- 1881: "Ayala's
Angel". "Dr Whorttle's School".
- 1882: "Not
If I Know It", "The Two Heroines of Plumpington (Short
Novel), "Marion Fay", "The Fixed Period",
"Kept in the Dark", "Lord Palmerston (Biography)
- (1883): "Autobiography",
"The Landleaguers", "Mr. Scarborough's Family".
Marriage:
1844 To Rose Heseltine the daughter of a Rotherham
Bank Manager.
Date and Place of Death:
6th December 1882, London, England, at party
in his brother-in-law's house.
Age at Death:
67.
Site of Grave:
Kensal Green Cemetery, Kensal Green, London,
England near to Wilkie Collins
Places of Interest:
IRELAND:
There is a plaque on the Custom House, Belfast.
