Edwin Gerald Jones Biss (1876–1922) was an English motoring journalist and author of short stories. His stories were often serialised in journals and newspapers.

Family

Biss was born in Cambridge, England; his mother was Janet Jones from

Otago, New Zealand Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government regi ...

; his father was physician Cecil Yates Biss. He was educated at University College, The Leys School and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

. In the 1901 census, Biss was recorded as visiting Offham Farm, just north of

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. The farm was owned by Alexander Allan (Allen) who was from Marnech,

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Moray ...

, Scotland. In 1905 Biss married his daughter Sarah Ann Coutts Allan (1878-1952); they had two children: Couttie Margaret Janet Biss (1907-1988) and Godfrey Charles D'arcy Biss (1910-1989). Biss collapsed and died at age 46 whilst visiting his friend Alfred Eyde Manning Foster. Biss' four brothers pre-deceased him; the eldest, Major Harold Cecil Jones Biss, died in 1921 aged 51. Another brother, Dr. Hubert Elwyn Jones Biss (1871-1909), was one of the physicians who attended

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

during his final illness and death at Hawarden Castle.

Career

Biss originally planned a career in the legal profession, but he found success in writing short stories. By 1901, he was describing himself as an "author". In 1903, Biss' his work was regularly appearing in newspapers around the United Kingdom. His works included serialised stories such as ''The Imposter; Bob Pharazin’s Madness; The White Rose; Who Killed Montagu Jerningham'' and later ''The Shadow of the Scaffold''. ''The Dupe'' was published in 1907 and in 1908 ''The Fated Five – The Tale of a Great Tontine''. This was followed by ''Branded'', a story that in 1921 was made into a movie starring

Josephine Earle Josephine Earle (February 23, 1892 – April 26, 1960/1961) was an American silent film actress who worked in the United States and the United Kingdom. Born as Josephine MacEwan (sometimes listed as McEwan), she was of Scottish descent. ...

. ''The House of Terror'' was published in 1909 and the ''Undying Dread'' serialised in 1911. The ''Door of the Unreal'', published in 1920, was a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

story and a change of genre for Biss. His serialisations were also syndicated in the United States and Australia. In addition to fiction, Biss wrote articles about motoring. His work was published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', the ''Evening News'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'', ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on roy ...

'' and Vanity Fair. In 1909 he published a book called ''Motoring Dicta'', a compendium of his newspaper articles.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biss, Edwin Gerald Jones 1876 births 1922 deaths British motoring journalists English crime fiction writers English mystery writers English short story writers