BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH FROM THE PROJECT GUTENBERG NEWSLETTER, JAN 2004

Mister William Wymark Jacobs was born on September 8, 1863 in the humble
house of wharf manager, that was located on the wharf itself in the docs
of Wapping in London. Surely the modesty is a relative thing and for the
most of the seafarers the manager's house was a symbol of wealth and
prosperity. The young Jacobs has got an education in private schools--
small business-like institutions run by an entrepreneurial proprietor.
Opposite to the expensive 'public' schools for upper classes.  After
finishing his education at the age of 16, William took a position as a
clerk in Post Office Savings Bank. O, my after real life of docs, boats
and sea journeys during not too demanding school times, the work as a
small clerk was chocking. He hated this 'captivity' passionately and
dreamed about freedom. And naturally he started to write, creating his
own world based on his limited but colorful experiences. Seafaring
adventures without pirates or big proud galleons, sailing journeys to
the nearest river dock, funny somewhat awkward love affairs of bargemen
and dockworkers, poor but sympathetic life of the simple people around
him.  Since 1885 he started to publish his works in minor magazines, but
his first collection of the short stories 'Many Cargoes' was published
only in the year 1896. For the person who grew up in the world where
earning bread was inexplicitly by the sweat of one's brow, was very hard
to believe that he may draw his wage from something so ephemeral as
writing the stories. So he allowed to himself to leave his hated post at
the Savings Bank only in 1898 after publishing his third collection 'Sea
Urchins', that was also published at the same time in New York as 'More
Cargoes' (an American publisher decided probably to show the connection
with first success more clearly ?). At this time he was already a known
and successful writer, who's works appeared in Jerome K. Jerome's Idle
and To-Day and even accepted in the Strand - the most prestigious
fiction magazine at that time. At the year 1900 he took even more
unusual step and married socialist and suffragette Agnes Eleanor
Williams. According to the rumors their alliance was not perfect.
The conservative, careful and even little bit pessimistic William was
scarcely a real friend of energetic suffragist that wanted to change
this old world for good. If to apply Freud theory and to analyze his
stories, however, he was ready and accustomed for the confrontational
manner of the male-female relationships. In most of his novel about
married life a woman is demanding and a man tries to avoid fulfilling
her demands as peaceful as possible ? a good example is. In any case
Agnes and William stayed together and even raised four children ? two
boys and two girls. Since 1916 Jacobs writes little and more adapting
his old stories into short plays. He died popular in London nursing
house at the age of eighty the middle of WW2.