Arthur Douglas Bruce Hamilton
CMG (3 July 1900,
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
– 24 March 1974,
Brighton,
Sussex) was an English novelist.
Family
Bruce Hamilton's younger brother
Patrick Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
was a successful novelist and playwright. Their father, Bernard Hamilton (1863–1930), a barrister, also wrote fiction.
Writing
A godson of
Arthur Conan Doyle,
[Martin Edwards, ''The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books'', Poisoned Pen Press Inc, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2017.] Bruce Hamilton wrote six crime novels in the 1930s, then four more novels over the next 30 years. Unlike many crime fiction writers, he preferred to try something different with each novel, rather than use a successful formula.
He also wrote a biography of his brother Patrick in 1972.
His 1946 novel ''Pro: An English Tragedy'', which was not a crime novel, is particularly admired in
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
circles for its realistic and poignant portrayal of the life of a professional
county cricketer in England either side of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
A collection of his manuscripts and correspondence is held at the
Harry Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
.
Life
Hamilton moved to
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
in 1938 to take up a teaching post. Soon afterwards, he began writing on international matters for ''
The Barbados Advocate
The ''Advocate'' ("Barbados Advocate") is the second most dominant daily newspaper in the country of Barbados. First established in 1895, the Advocate is the longest continually published newspaper in the country. Printed in colour, the Advocat ...
''.
He stayed in Barbados, working in the education service. In 1964 he was awarded the
CMG for his service.
In December 1933 he married Marie Aileen Lorna Laurie (1907–1987), who was born in Barbados.
Bibliography
Novels
* ''To Be Hanged: A Story of Murder'' (1930)
* ''Hue and Cry'' (1931)
* ''The Spring Term, etc.'' (1933)
* ''Middle Class Murder'' (1936)
* ''The Brighton Murder Trial: Rex v Rhodes'' (1937)
* ''Traitor's Way'' (1939)
* ''Pro: An English Tragedy'' (1946)
* ''So Sad, So Fresh'' (1952)
* ''Too Much of Water'' (1958)
* ''Let Him Have Judgment'' (1970)
Non-fiction
* ''Cricket in Barbados'' (1947)
* '' Barbados & the Confederation Question, 1871–1885'' (1956)
* ''The Light Went Out: The Life of Patrick Hamilton'' (1972)
References
External links
Bruce Hamilton Papersat the
Harry Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
Gideon Haigh on the cricket novels of Dudley Carew and Bruce Hamiltonin ''
The Cricket Monthly
ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Bruce
1900 births
1974 deaths
20th-century English novelists
English male novelists
20th-century English male writers
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George