Educated at Kings College, London and Christ's College, Cambridge, Besant took a position as a professor at the Royal College of Mauritius where he worked for six years before returning to England because of his health. From 1868 to 1885 he was the secretary of the Palestine Exploration Fund. In 1884, he helped to found the Society of Authors and held its chairmanship until 1892. He was knighted in 1895. His literary career began as a collaboration with James Rice, with whom he produced a number of novels. When Rice died, Besant continued on his own, publishing All Sorts and Conditions of Men in 1882. In addition to his many novels, Besant produced many works on London, critical essays and biographies, including French Humorists (1873) and Rabelais (1879). His novels included Chaplain of the Fleet (1881), The Revolt of Man (1882), All In A Garden Fair (1883), When the Ship Comes Home (1883), Dorothy Forster (1884), Children of Gibeon (1886), Holy Rose (1886), To Call Her Mine (1887), The Doubt of Dives (1889), The Bell of St. Paul's (1889) and City of Refuge (1896). |
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