Walter Herries Pollock (21 February 1850 – 21 February 1926) was an English writer, poet, lecturer and journalist. He is best known as editor of the '' Saturday Review'', a position he held from 1884 to 1894, but also had published various miscellaneous writings that included novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translated works between 1877 and 1920. He was also, at one time, considered one of the best amateur fencers in Great Britain. Pollock was well known in Britain's literary circles during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

and was close friends with a number of writers, including

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, Oscar Wilde, Egerton Castle, W. E. Henley and

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

. He was also involved in collaborations with Alexander Duffield, Sir

Walter Besant Sir Walter Besant (14 August 1836 – 9 June 1901) was an English novelist and historian. William Henry Besant was his brother, and another brother, Frank, was the husband of Annie Besant. Early life and education The son of wine merchant Willi ...

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...

, F. C. Grove and Camille Prévost and Lilian Moubrey. A member of the esteemed Pollock family, he was the second son of

Sir William Frederick Pollock, 2nd Baronet Sir William Frederick Pollock, 2nd Baronet (13 April 1815 – 24 December 1888) was a British barrister and author. He was Queen's Remembrancer from 1874 to 1886. Biography The eldest son of Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet, Sir Jonathan Frede ...

and brother to lawyer

Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet PC, FBA (10 December 1845 – 18 January 1937) was an English jurist best known for his ''History of English Law before the Time of Edward I'', written with F.W. Maitland, and his lifelong correspondence w ...

and George Frederick Pollock. He in turn was the father of newspaperman Guy Cameron Pollock, a longtime journalist for 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 ...

'' and '' Daily Express'', and managing editor of the ''

Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...

''.Pinney, Thomas, ed. ''The Letters of Rudyard Kipling: 1920-30''. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1990. (pg. 284) Walter and Guy Pollock wrote a novel together in 1905.

Biography

Walter Pollock was born in London on 21 February 1850, the second son of

.Moon, G. Washington. ''Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries''. 13th ed. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1891. (pg. 726)Plarr, Victor G. ''Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries''. 15th ed. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1899. (pg. 870)Patrick, David, ed. ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge''. London and Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers Ltd., 1926. (pg. 278)Burke, Edmund, ed. ''The Annual Register of World Events: A Review of the Year 1926''. Vol. 168. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1927. (pg. 123) His great-grandfather, Mr. David Pollock, was a member of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

and

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not k ...

r to King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. His grandfather was

Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet, PC (23 September 1783 – 28 August 1870) was a British lawyer and Tory politician. Background and education Pollock was the son of saddler David Pollock, of Charing Cross, London, and the elder br ...

, Lord

Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...

, a high judicial appointment of which he was the penultimate holder. One of his grand-uncles, Sir David Pollock, was the chief justice of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, while another, Sir George Pollock, became a field marshal. His own father was an author and

Queen's Remembrancer The King's Remembrancer (or Queen's Remembrancer) is an ancient judicial post in the legal system of England and Wales. Since the Lord Chancellor no longer sits as a judge, the Remembrancer is the oldest judicial position in continual existence ...

under

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

from 1874 to 1886, when the post was passed on to his brother George Frederick Pollock who continued to hold the title until the turn of the 20th century. His eldest brother,

, was a noted lawyer and frequently worked with him during his career. Educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, he graduated with a classical degree in 1871 and was called to the bar at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

three years later.Tyson, Brian, ed. ''Bernard Shaw's Book Reviews: Originally Published in the Pall Mall Gazette from 1885 to 1888.'' University Park: Pennsylvania State Press, 1991. (pg. 345) He developed an interest in literature and history and began lecturing at the Royal Institution, London. Among the subjects he discussed included the works of Richelieu, Colbert,

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, Sir Francis Drake and

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

. In 1875, he joined the staff of the '' Saturday Review'' and became an assistant editor. It was around this time that he began courting Emma Jane Pipon, daughter of Colonel Pipon, Seigneur de Noirmont of Jersey, and the two were married in Chester on 11 January 1876. Their first and only son, Guy Cameron Pollock, was born that same year. It was while working for the publication that he first began writing professionally and co-wrote ''Marston: A Story of these Modern Times'' with Alexander J. Duffield in 1877. He also published literary critical works such as ''The Modern French Theatre'' (1878) and ''Lectures on French Poets'' (1879), English-language translations of works by Alfred de Musset's and

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

, and a collection of poetic verses entitled ''Songs and Rhymes: English and French'' (1882) and ''Verses of Two Tongues'' (1884). In 1884, Pollock succeeded Philip Harwood as editor of the ''Saturday Review'' and remained with the publication for the next 10 years.

University of Texas 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, 11,075 ...

. ''The University of Texas Studies in English''. Vol. 34. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1955. (pg. 166) He became close friends with many members of Victorian Britain's literary circle including

, Oscar Wilde, Egerton Castle, W. E. Henley and

. It is also alleged that he had an

extramarital affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of ...

with English hostess

Violet Hunt Isobel Violet Hunt (28 September 1862 – 16 January 1942) was a British author and literary hostess. She wrote feminist novels. She founded the Women Writers' Suffrage League in 1908 and participated in the founding of International PEN. Biog ...

. Another close friend and collaborator,

, worked with Pollock on the ''Saturday Review'' and published many of Lang's anonymous reviews and "middle" articles. Pollock continued writing, mostly fiction and poetry, and co-authored ''Uncle Jack'' (1885) with Sir Walter Besant and ''He'' (1887) with Andrew Lang. By himself, he wrote ''A Nine Men's Morrice'' (1889), ''Old and New'' (1890), ''The Seal of Fate'' (1891) and ''King Zub, and Other Stories'' (1893). In addition, Pollock contributed 26 poems of "magazine verse" to ''Longman's'' from 1890 to 1905. He and Besant also wrote ''The Ballad-Monger'', a stage adaptation of Théodore Faullain de Banville's ''Gringoire'', which was produced by

Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...

at the Haymarket Theatre. In 1894, Pollock left the ''Saturday Review''Orel, Harold. ''Kipling, Interviews and Recollections''. Vol. 1. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble, 1983. (pg. 117) and went to live at

Chawton Chawton is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. The village lies within the South Downs National Park and is famous as the home of Jane Austen for the last eight years of her life. History Chawton's re ...

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

to devote himself to writing full-time. He wrote novels on German student life, at least one book in French, ''Monsieur le Marquis de -- (1780-1793), Memoires Inédits Recueillis'' (1894), various plays, and also made several excursions into belles-lettres. A second collaboration with Sir Walter Besant produced ''The Charm and Other Drawing-Room Plays'' (1896). The next year, he co-wrote ''Fencing'' (1897) as part of the Badminton series with F. C. Grove and Camille Prévost (Pollock then being considered the finest amateur fencer in Britain) as well as ''King and Artist: A Romantic Play in Five Acts'' (1897) with Lilian Moubrey. Two years later, he wrote ''Jane Austen: Her Contemporaries and Herself'' (1899), considered one of the most important works of literary criticism on the female author, and published a revised edition of Watts Phillips' ''The Dead Heart: A Story of the French Revolution'' (1900). He and his son Guy Cameron Pollock wrote a novel together, ''Hay Fever'' (1905), and wrote biographies of two of his friends titled ''Impressions of Henry Irving'' (1908) and ''The Art of the Hon. John Collier'' (1914). His final book was ''Icarian Flights'' (1920). His wife died in 1922; afterwards she was said to have been the inspiration for his poetry. Pollock lived in retirement until his own death on 21 February 1926.

Fencing

Together with his elder brother Sir Frederick, he participated in the first English revival of

historical fencing Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms. While there is limited surviving documentation of the martia ...

, originated by Alfred Hutton and his colleagues Egerton Castle, Captain Carl Thimm, Colonel Cyril Matthey, Captain Percy Rolt, Captain Ernest George Stenson Cooke, Captain Frank Herbert Whittow.

Bibliography

*''Marston: A Story of these Modern Times'' (1877, co-written with Alexander J. Duffield) *''The Modern French Theatre'' (1878) *''Lectures on French Poets'' (1879) *''The Poet and the Muse'' (1880) *''Songs and Rhymes: English and French'' (1882) *''The Picture's Secret'' (1883) *''Paradox of Acting'' (1883) *''Verses of Two Tongues'' (1884) *''Uncle Jack'' (1885, co-written with Sir

) *''He'' (1887, co-written with

) *''A Nine Men's Morrice'' (1889) *''Old and New'' (1890) *''The Seal of Fate'' (1891) *''King Zub, and Other Stories'' (1893) *''Monsieur le Marquis de -- (1780–1793), Memoires Inédits Recueillis'' (1894) *''The Charm, and Other Drawing-Room Plays'' (1896) *''Fencing'' (1897, co-written with F. C. Grove and Camille Prévost) *''King and Artist: A Romantic Play in Five Acts'' (1897, co-written with Lilian Moubrey) *''The Were-Wolf: A Romantic Play in One Act'' (1898) *''Jane Austen, her Contemporaries and Herself'' (1899) *''The Dead Heart: A Story of the French Revolution'' (1900, co-written with

Watts Phillips Watts Phillips (16 November 1825 – 2 December 1874) was an English illustrator, novelist and playwright best known for his play ''The Dead Heart'', which served as a model for Charles Dickens' ''A Tale of Two Cities''. In a memoir, his sister E ...

) *''Animals That Have Owned Us'' (1904) *''Hay Fever'' (1905, co-written with Guy C. Pollock) *''Sealed Orders and Other Poems'' (1907) *''Impressions of Henry Irving'' (1908) *''The Art of the Hon. John Collier'' (1914) *''Icarian Flights'' (1920) *''Fencing'', co-written with F.C. Grove and Camille Prévost (1889)The Badminton library of sports and pastimes. With a complete bibliography of the art by Egerton Castle, Boxing by E.B. Michell, Wrestling by Walter Armstrong. With illustrations from instantaneous photograph.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, Walter Herries 1850 births 1926 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English male journalists English male poets 20th-century English novelists English science fiction writers English short story writers People of the Victorian era Writers from London People educated at Eton College English male short story writers English male novelists Younger sons of baronets People from Chawton