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Max Pemberton

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This article is about the adventure/mystery novelist. For the UK doctor and journalist, seeMax Pemberton (doctor).

Sir

Max Pemberton
ca. 1895
ca. 1895
Born(1863-06-19)19 June 1863
Paddington, London, England[1][2]
Died22 February 1950(1950-02-22)(aged 86)
London, England
OccupationJournalist and author
NationalityBritish
Alma materMerchant Taylors' School
Caius College, Cambridge.
Notable worksThe Iron Pirate
Notable awardsKnight Bachelor
SpouseAlice Agnes Tussaud

Sir Max PembertonJP(19 June 1863 – 22 February 1950) was a popular Englishnovelistandpublisherworking mainly in the adventure and mystery genres.[3]

Life

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He was educated atSt Albans School,Merchant Taylors' School,andCaius College, Cambridge.[4]A clubman, journalist and dandy (Lord Northcliffeadmired his 'fancy vests'), he frequented bothFleet StreetandThe Savage Club.[citation needed]

Pemberton was the editor of boys' magazineChumsin 1892–1893[5]during its heyday. Between 1896 and 1906 he also editedCassell's Magazine(see[1]), in which capacity he published the early works ofR. Austin FreemanandWilliam Le Queux.

"I'm essentially an outdoor man." ca. 1903

His most famous workThe Iron Piratewas a best-seller during the early 1890s and it initiated his prolific writing career (see below). It was the story of a great gas-driven iron-clad, which could outpace the navies of the world and terrorised the shipping of the Atlantic Ocean. Other notable works includedCaptain Black(1911). Pemberton's 1894 collectionJewel Mysteries: From a Dealer's Note Bookwas a series ofMystery storiesrevolving around stolen jewels.[3]Pemberton also wrote historical fiction. Pemberton'sI Crown Thee Kingis set inSherwood Forestduring the time ofMary I.[6]His novelsBeatrice of Venice(1904) andPaulina(1922) centre onNapoleon's military campaigns in Italy.[7]

During January 1908, and just one year after the death of Pemberton’s friend and fellowCrimes Clubmember,Bertram Fletcher Robinson,he had a story titledWheels of Anarchypublished byCassell (publisher).This book includes the followingbook dedicationin the form of an 'Author's Note':[8]

This story was suggested to me by the late B. Fletcher Robinson,
deeply mourned. The subject was one in which he had interested himself for
some years; and almost the last message I had from him expressed the desire
that I would keep my promise and treat of the idea in a book. This I have now
done, adding something of my own to the brief notes he left me, but chiefly
bringing to the task an enduring gratitude for a friendship which nothing can
replace.

TheWheels of Anarchyis an adventure tale aboutanarchistsandassassins,which is set acrossContinental Europe.The novel's hero, Bruce Driscoll, is a recentgraduateof Jesus College, Cambridge and he appears to be modelled upon Robinson. In December 2010,Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pembertonwas compiled, introduced and republished infacsimileform by Paul Spiring and Hugh Cooke.[9]

During the autumn of 1914, Pemberton published aFather Brownstory titledThe Donnington AffairbyG. K. Chestertonin an obscure BritishperiodicalnamedThe Premier.Thisshort storywas reprinted in theChesterton Reviewin 1981.[10]

In 1920, Pemberton founded theLondon School of Journalism,and wrote a biography aboutAlfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe.He was married to Alice Tussaud, granddaughter of MadameMarie Tussaudand daughter of Joseph Tussaud.

Pemberton also wrote a biography ofSir Henry Roycepublished in 1934 soon after Royce's death.

Honours

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Pemberton was knighted in the1928 Birthday Honours,gazetted on 1 June 1928.[11]

Selected works

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Cover ofA Puritan's Wife(1902).
Wheels of Anarchy(1908)

Sources

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References

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  1. ^General Register Officeindex of births registered in July, August, September 1863 – Name: Pemberton, Max District: Kensington Volume: 1A Page: 9.
  2. ^Note: He sometimes gave his place of birth as Edgbaston, Birmingham (his mother was from Birmingham)
  3. ^abLeRoy Lad Panek,After Sherlock Holmes: The Evolution of British and American Detective Stories, 1891–1914.McFarland, 2014.ISBN9780786477654(pp. 66-7).
  4. ^"Pemberton, Max (PMRN881M)".A Cambridge Alumni Database.University of Cambridge.
  5. ^"Pemberton, Max".Who's Who.Vol. 59. 1907. p. 1378.
  6. ^Jonathan Nield,A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales.London, E. Mathews & Marrot, 1929 (p.151).
  7. ^Daniel D. McGarry, Sarah Harriman White,Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels.Scarecrow Press, 1963 (p.221)
  8. ^"Fletcher Robinson, Pemberton & Doyle".BFRonline.BIZ. Archived fromthe originalon 16 March 2010.Retrieved24 July2009.
  9. ^Pemberton, Max; Cooke, Hugh; Spiring, Paul R. (December 2010).Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pemberton.MX.ISBN978-1907685316.
  10. ^Smith, Marie (1987), Introduction,Thirteen Detectives,by Chesterton, G. K., Smith, Marie (ed.), London: Xanadu, p. 11,ISBN0-947761-23-3
  11. ^The London GazetteIssue 33390, 1 June 1928 (Supplement),p. 3846
  • The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Early Detective Stories,ed.Hugh Greene(Penguin, 1971)
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