Fred Merrick White Popular Books

Fred Merrick White Biography & Facts

Fred Merrick White (1859–1935) wrote a number of novels and short stories under the name "Fred M. White" including the six "Doom of London" science-fiction stories, in which various catastrophes beset London. These include The Four Days' Night (1903), in which London is beset by a massive killer smog; The Dust of Death (1903), in which diphtheria infects the city, spreading from refuse tips and sewers; and The Four White Days (1903), in which a sudden and deep winter paralyses the city under snow and ice. These six stories all first appeared in Pearson's Magazine, and were illustrated by Warwick Goble. He was also a pioneer of the spy story, and in 2003, his series The Romance of the Secret Service Fund (written in 1899) was edited by Douglas G. Greene and published by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. Life Fred Merrick White was born in 1859 in West Bromwich, a small town near Birmingham, England. The record of his birth indicates that he was born in the June quarter and that his first name was actually "Fred" — not, as is often assumed, "Frederick". His second name, "Merrick", was the maiden name of his mother, Helen, who married his father, Joseph, in West Bromwich in the September quarter of 1858.At the time of the 1861 census Joseph and Helen White were living with their son at 18 Carters Green, West Bromwich. The census record gives Joseph's occupation as "solicitor's managing clerk." Ten years later the family was living in Hereford, a county town in West England. Before becoming a full-time writer, White followed in his father's footsteps, working as a solicitor's clerk in Hereford. By the time of the 1881 census, Joseph White, Sr., was a fully-fledged solicitor and was now quite prosperous. In 1891 White was working full-time as a journalist and author, presumably earning enough to support himself and his mother, Helen, who, in the census record for that year figures as the head of the household in the Barton Road villa. In the June quarter of the following year, 1892, White married Clara Jane Smith. The wedding took place at King's Norton, Worcestershire, and the couple had two children. In the 1911 census, Fred M. White, aged 52, and his wife Clara were living at Uckfield, a town in East Sussex. During the First World War, White's sons served as junior officers in The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. In November 1915 the elder boy, Sydney Eric, was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant (on probation). The First World War and his sons' war-time experiences evidently influenced White's writing during and after this conflict. His novel 'The Seed of Empire' (1916) describes some of the early trench warfare in great detail and the places and events are historically accurate. A number of novels published in the 1920s concern the social changes caused by the war and the difficulties of ex-soldiers in fitting back into normal civilian life. Fred and Clara spent their final years in Barnstaple in the County of Devon, an area which provided the backdrop for his novels The Mystery of Crocksands, The Riddle of the Rail and The Shadow of the Dead Hand. White died in Barnstaple in December 1935, his wife, Clara Jane, died in March 1940. Works Novels Short fiction The following items are from the list published by Roy Glashan. Short story series 1. The Doom of London (1903) "The Four Days' Night" "The Dust of Death" "The Four White Days" "The Invisible Force" "The River of Death" "A Bubble Burst"2. The Romance of the Secret Service Fund (1900) "By Woman's Wit" "The Mazaroff Rifle " "In the Express" "The Almedi Concession" "The Other Side of the Chessboard" "Three of Them"3. The Master Criminal (1898) "The Head of the Caesars" "At Windsor" "The Silverpool Cup" "The 'Morrison Raid' Indemnity" "Cleopatra's Robe" "The Rosy Cross" "The Death of the President" "The Cradlestone Oil Mills" "Redburn Castle" "Crysoline Limited" "The Loss Of The 'Eastern Empress'" "General Marcos"4. Real Dramas (1909) "His Second Self" "An Extra Turn" ""Not in the Bill"" "The Plagiarist" "The Man in Possession" "A Pair of Handcuffs"5. The Dragon Fly (1909) "How Horace Daimler Got His Name" "The Three Red Hats" "A Cloud of Butterflies" "The Three Alarm Clocks" "A Reconstructed Crime" "The Mirror Over the Fireplace"6. The Adventures of Drenton Denn, Special Commissioner (1898) "The Red Speck" "The Yellow Moth" "Dust" "The Fire Bugs" "The Great White Moth"7. "Gipsy" Tales (1903-1916) "A Matter of Kindness" (1903) "A Liberal Education" (1903) "A Stranger in Bohemia" (1915) "Drops of Water" (1915) "The Unpremeditated Curtain" (1915) "Mere Details" (1915) "Out of Season" (1916)8. "The Last of the Borgias" (1898) "The Scrip of Death" "The Crimson Streak" "The Holy Rose" "The Saving of Serena" "The Varteg Necklace" "The Three Carnations"9. The "Gentle Buccaneer" Stories (1919) "Beauty in Distress" "The Grey Raider" "The Shifting Sand"10. "The Sage of Tyburn" Stories (1905-1906) "The Chronicle of the Yellow Girl" "The Chronicle of the BlueEyed Syndicate" "The Chronicle of the Inconsequent Princess" "The Chronicle of the Elderly Adonis" "The Chronicle of the Libelled Velasquez" "The Chronicle of the Compleat Letter-Writer"Other uncollected short stories "The Hospitallers" (May 1890) "A Bad Cold" (June 1890) "Found!" (September 1890) "Forget-Me-Not" (October 1890) "A Message from the Flood" (May 1892) "Burglar Bill's Pupil" (October 1892) "More Than Coronets" (March 1894) "An Eastern Princess" (January 1898) "Santa Anna" (April 1898) "The Azoff Diamonds" (July 1898) "The Purple Terror" (September 1898) "The Joinville Tunnel" (November 1898) "Compounding a Felony" (April 1899) "Moray the Traitor" (July 1899) "The Emsdam Dispatches" (September 1899) "The White Geranium" (December 1899) "A Satisfactory Reference" (April 1900) "The Throat of the Wolf" (January 1901) "A Foster-Father" (June 1901) "The Black Narcissus" (December 1901) "One Day with a Working Ant" (December 1901) "Pictures in the Snow" (December 1901) "One of the Old Guard" (February 1902) "An Unrecorded Crime" (May 1902) "The Dormer Window" (August 1902) "The Shebeeners" (September 1902) "This Little World" (November 1902) "Blind" (December 1902) "Hardy's Big Coup" (January 1903) "The Black Cat" (February 1903) "The Orpheusia" (July 1903) "The Heart of an Anarchist" (September 1903) "A Stolen Interview" (November 1903) "A Game of Draughts" (December 1903) "Red Petals" (February 1904) "By Grace of His Majesty" (April 1904) "Aunt Mary" (May 1904) "The Northern Light" (October 1904) "The Other Man's Story" (December 1904) "Unbidden Guests" (February 1905) "The Doubting D-, or, A Cranky Cryptogram" (March 1905) "Dust" (March 1905) "Two of Them" (March 1905) "A Table Tragedy" (March 1905) "The Night Express" (March 1905) "A Friendly Call" (March 1905) "'Special' to the Telephone" (March 1905) "The Law Of The Jungle. A Tale of Mean Streets" (March 1905) "Natural Selection" (March 1905) "My Lady Bountiful" (March 1905) "The Charlatan" (September 1905.... Discover the Fred Merrick White popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Fred Merrick White books.