George Edward Farrow (17 March 1862[1] – 1919[2][3]) born in IpswichinEngland, was a noted British children's book author of whose life little is known.[4][5]
The son of George Farrow, a cement manufacturer in Ipswich, and his wife Emily, G.E. Farrow was educated in London and America. In 1891 he was working as a clerk to the Collector of Inland Revenue and was living at No 190 Dalston Lane in Hackney. In 1901 he was living at No 83 Sterndale Road in Hammersmith. By this time his occupation is listed as author.[6] On both these dates his mother was living with him.[7] He also lived for a time in Brook Green, West Kensington.
During his literary career Farrow wrote more than 30 books for children. He encouraged his readers to write to him, answered their letters, and let their tastes and opinions guide his future works (rather like his American contemporary L. Frank Baum). Though he wrote adventure tales and poetry, Farrow was best known for nonsense books written in the tradition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, especially his Wallypug series, including:
He wrote 34 volumes in all, his last being The Mysterious Shin Shira (1915).[1]
Surprisingly for a popular and prolific author, little is known of Farrow's life. A few sparse facts can be gleaned from prefaces to his books: that he owned an armchair called Pendennis, had a dog called Gip, and was known to his friends as "Gef".[8] It can be inferred, perhaps, from the prefaces, in which he repeatedly begged for readers' letters, that he was lonely and childless. The frequency with which he changed publishers points to dissatisfaction with the terms they offered. Until recently, even the year of his birth was not known for certain,[note 1] it having been estimated at 1866, partly based on a reference in the Preface to an 1898 book:
What did become of Farrow is also obscure. Author Noel Streatfeild has speculated:
Farrow's other books include The Missing Prince (1896) and The Little Panjandrum's Dodo (1899).
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