Besant, Sir Walter

Sir Walter (1836-1901), a British novelist and critic. He was born at Portsmouth. He received his degree at Cambridge. He went out to the island of Mauritius as a professor of mathematics, but returned later to London and entered upon a literary career. In a literary partnership with James Rice, a number of novels were produced, including The Seamy Side. After the death of Mr. Rice, Besant wrote on alone. All Sorts and Conditions of Men stirred men's minds and gave a powerful impetus to settlement work in East London and indirectly to work of the sort on this side of the Atlantic. In calling attention to the need of reform in existing social and industrial conditions, Besant in his day did a work not unlike that of Charles Dickens. In 1895 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. Other stories of Besant's well known in America are: All in a Garden Fair, The World Went Very Well Then, The Alabaster Box, Dorothy Foster, and Beyond the Dreams of Avarice.