Frederick George Loring (1869–1951) was an English naval officer and writer, and an early expert in

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...

Family

Loring was born on 11 March 1869 in

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

(then still part of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

), the eldest son of Admiral Sir William Loring (d. 1895), and his wife, Frances Louisa Adams. His grandfather, Sir John Wentworth Loring (1775–1852), had been the lieutenant-governor of the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth in 1819–37, and his great-grandfather,

Joshua Loring Joshua Loring (3 August 1716 – September 1781Charles Henry Pope''Loring Genealogy''(Cambridge, Mass., 1917), pp. 78-79) was an 18th-century colonial American naval officer in British service. During the French and Indian War, he served as a ...

(1716–1881), a colonial American commodore in the Royal Navy, who moved to London after 1776. In 1896 he married Charlotte Elizabeth Arbuthnot (1862–1933), daughter of the Hon. James Edward Arbuthnot of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

; they had two daughters, Evelyn Frances and Iris. In 1949 he remarried, to Margaret Mackenzie, daughter of Montague S. Napier. Loring died on 7 September 1951 in

Foots Cray Foots Cray is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley, Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Sidcup. History It took its name from Godwin Fot, a ...

, Kent.

Career

Loring served as a sub-lieutenant on the royal yacht Victoria and Albert in 1891. As a lieutenant he was aboard HMS ''Victoria'' when she was rammed and sunk by HMS ''Camperdown'' off

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

on 22 June 1893 with much loss of life, and was awarded a bronze medal by the

Royal Humane Society The Royal Humane Society is a British charity which promotes lifesaving intervention. It was founded in England in 1774 as the ''Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned'', for the purpose of rendering first aid in cases of near dro ...

for saving two lives. In 1896, he qualified as a torpedo lieutenant and joined the staff of HMS ''Defiance'', the schoolship, at Devonport, where he was among the first to specialize in

. He was put in charge of Admiralty shore wireless stations, and in 1904 selected to accompany

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...

to America for wireless experiments. He retired in December 1909 with the rank of commander, having transferred to the Post Office, where he was inspector of wireless telegraphy responsible for the operating staff until his retirement in 1930. He was appointed a civil OBE in 1926 for his services to the development of radio. In 1930, he continued his career in the International Marine Radio Company, where he became a director. He finally retired from the company in 1950.ODNB entry.

Writings

Loring's writing abilities appeared first as a technical journalist and as naval correspondent for the ''

Western Morning News The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily regional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering the West Country including Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Somerset and Dorset in the South West of England. Organisation The ''Western Mo ...

''. Loring also wrote poetry and short stories, of which "The Tomb of Sarah" gained acclaim as a classic vampire story after it appeared in the ''Pall Mall'' magazine in December 1910. It tells what happens when the tomb of the evil Countess Sarah, murdered in 1630, is disturbed during the restoration of a church. Along with

Hume Nisbet James Hume Nisbet (8 August 1849 – 4 June 1923) was a Scottish-born novelist and artist. Many of his thrillers are set in Australia. Youth Nisbet was born in Stirling, Scotland and received special artistic training, and was educated under the R ...

's "The Vampire Maid" and

E. F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer. Early life E.F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshir ...

's "Mrs. Amworth", it is among the foremost early 20th-century stories to feature a female vampire. The story soon began to be anthologized. Later it was included in the 1939

Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

''Ghost Stories'', the 1977 Citadel Press ''Dracula Book of Great Vampire Stories'', and the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

anthologies ''Victorian Ghost Stories'' (1991) and ''The Young Oxford Book of Supernatural Stories'' (1997).

Ray Danton Ray Danton (born Raymond Caplan; September 19, 1931 – February 11, 1992) was a radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous roles were in the screen biographies ''The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond'' (1960 ...

's 1972 film ''Crypt of the Living Dead'' was an uncredited adaptation of this.Vampire Movies site
Retrieved 7 September 2011
IMDb site
Retrieved 7 September 2011.
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External source

"The Tomb of Sarah" can be rea
online here
o

*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loring, F G 1869 births 1951 deaths English electrical engineers Royal Navy officers English short story writers People from Ryde