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When William Wordsworth (1770-1850) published ‘Lyrical Ballads’ with Samuel Coleridge in 1798, they launched the Romantic Age of English Literature. Although now generally considered the greatest poet of his age, at the time he would have been considered secondary to Keats, Scott and later Tennyson. His semi-autobiographical poem, ‘The Prelude’, raised little interest when it was published by his widow after his death, but it has come to be viewed as his masterpiece.

Born Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall in 1880, Hall wrote eight novels, the most famous being ‘The Well of Loneliness’. With its overtly lesbian theme, the book was published in 1928, but was deemed obscene and was withdrawn from circulation, not appearing again until 1949.

Beatrix Potter (1866 – 1943) was largely ignored by her parents as she was growing up, and began writing and sketching as a means of occupying her time. She would come to create some of the most enduringly popular children’s stories ever written.

John Locke (1632-1704) was considered the father of Classical Liberalism. His ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’ was a milestone in the developing comprehension of the human mind.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher. He is best remembered for ‘Leviathan’, a hugely influential book that has caused him to be considered one of the founders of modern political philosophy.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, born 6 March 1806, was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both Britain and the United States during her lifetime.

H. G. Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) is famously often referred to as ‘the father of science fiction’

Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940), novelist, was born at Wellington College on 24 July 1867, the third son of Edward White Benson (1829–1896) and Mary Sidgwick (1841–1918). His father was headmaster of Wellington College and subsequently archbishop of Canterbury. He was a younger brother of Arthur Christopher Benson (1862–1925), Mary Eleanor Benson (1863–1890), and Margaret Benson (1865–1916), and… Read More

Eric Blair (George Orwell as he was to become when a published writer) was a child of the Empire, born in Bengal, India, on June 25, 1903, the second child of Richard and Ida Blair. Richard was a civil servant in the Opium Department (the trade between India and China having been legalised under British… Read More