Sir Max Pemberton was a popular British novelist, working mainly in the adventure and mystery genres. He was educated at St Albans School

St Albans School (Hertfordshire)

St Albans School is an independent school in the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, in the East of England. Entry before Sixth Form is for boys only, and co-educational thereafter. Founded in 948 by Wulsin , St Albans School is not only the oldest school in Hertfordshire but also one of the oldest...

, Merchant Taylors' School

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....

, and Caius College, Cambridge. A clubman, journalist and dandy (Lord Northcliffe admired his 'fancy vests'), he frequented both Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

 and The Savage Club

Savage Club

The Savage Club, founded in 1857 is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:Many and varied are the stories that have been told about the first meeting of the Savage Club, of the precise purposes for which it was formed, and of its christening...

.

Pemberton was the editor of boys' magazine Chums

Chums (paper)

Chums was a boys' weekly newspaper started in 1892 that was the official paper of the British Boy Scouts and British Boys' Naval Brigade . The publisher also gathered the weekly paper into monthly and annual editions...

during its heyday. Between 1896 and 1906 he also edited Cassell's Magazine

Cassell's Magazine

Cassell's Magazine was the successor to Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper, which was published from 31 December 1853 to 9 March 1867, becoming Cassell's Family Magazine in 1874, Cassell's Magazine in 1897, and, after 1912, Cassell's Magazine of Fiction.The magazine was edited by H. G...

(see http://www.philsp.com/data/data062.html), in which capacity he published the early works of R. Austin Freeman and William Le Queux

William Le Queux

William Tufnell Le Queux was an Anglo-French journalist and writer. He was also a diplomat , a traveller , a flying buff who officiated at the first British air meeting at Doncaster in 1909, and a wireless pioneer who broadcast music from his own station long...

.

His most famous work The Iron Pirate was a bestseller during the early 1890s and it launched his prolific writing career (see below). It was the story of a great gas-driven iron-clad, which could outpace the navies of the world and terrorized the Atlantic Ocean. Other notable works included Captain Black (1911).

During January 1908, Pemberton had a story entitled Wheels of Anarchy published by Cassell & Company (London). This story was based upon notes that were written by Bertram Fletcher Robinson

Bertram Fletcher Robinson

Bertram Fletcher Robinson was an English sportsman, journalist, author and Liberal Unionist Party campaigner. Between 1893 and 1907, he wrote nearly 300 published items including a series of short stories that feature a detective called Addington Peace. However, Robinson is perhaps best remembered...

 shortly before he died in January 1907. It is an adventure tale about anarchists and assassins that is set across Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. The novel’s hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

 and narrator

Narrator

A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

, Bruce Driscoll, a recent Cambridge graduate

Graduation

Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...

, appears to be modelled upon Fletcher Robinson. Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pemberton was republished in December 2010.

In 1920, Pemberton founded the London School of Journalism

London School of Journalism

The London School of Journalism is an independent journalism school based in London, England, which offers qualifications in journalism, freelance journalism and creative writing. The LSJ provides both on-site and distances learning to its students, ranging from short courses to postgraduate...

, wrote a biography about Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe

Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe

Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...

 and was knighted. He was married to Alice Tussaud, granddaughter of Madame Marie Tussaud

Marie Tussaud

Anna Maria Tussaud was an artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussaud's, the wax museum she founded in London.- Biography :...

and daughter of Joseph Tussaud.

Sources

• New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors

External links

• Max Pemberton books http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Max+Pemberton&sortby=1&x=0&y=0.