Arnold Bennett

(Enoch) Arnold Bennett - famous English author

1881 census:

Dwelling: 205 Waterloo Rd

Census Place: Burslem, Stafford, England

Enoch BENNETT M 37 M Head Burslem Solicitor

Sarah A. BENNETT M 40 F Wife Mottram, Cheshire Solicitors Wife

Enoch A. BENNETT 13 M Son Hanley Scholar

Frank C. BENNETT 12 M Son Hanley Scholar

Fannie G. BENNETT 11 F Daur Hanley Scholar

Emily V. BENNETT 9 F Daur Hanley Scholar

Eliza Tertia BENNETT 8 F Daur Burslem Scholar

Septimus A. BENNETT 4 M Son Burslem Scholar

LIFE

Arnold Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the family were able to move to a larger house between Hanley and Burslem. The younger Bennett was educated locally in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Arnold was employed by his father - his duties included rent collecting. He was unhappy working for his father for little financial reward, and the theme of parental miserliness is important in his novels. In his spare time he was able to do a little journalism, but his breakthrough as a writer was to come after he had moved from his native Potteries. At the age of twenty-one, he left his father's practice and went to London as a solicitor's clerk.

He won a literary competition in Tit-Bits magazine in 1889 and was encouraged to take up journalism full time. In 1894, he became assistant editor of the periodical Woman. He noticed that the material offered by a syndicate to the magazine was not very good, so he wrote a serial which was bought by the syndicate for 75 pounds. He then wrote another. This became The Grand Babylon Hotel. Just over four years later, his first novel A Man from the North was published to critical acclaim and he became editor to the magazine.

From 1900 he devoted himself full time to writing, giving up the editorship and writing much serious criticism, and also theatre journalism, one of his special interests. He moved to Trinity Hall Farm, Hockliffe, Bedfordshire, on Watling Street, which was the inspiration for his novel Teresa of Watling Street, which came out in 1904. His father Enoch Bennett died there in 1902, and is buried in Chalgrove churchyard. In 1902, Anna of the Five Towns, the first of a succession of stories which detailed life in the Potteries, appeared.

In 1903, he moved to Paris, where other great artists from around the world had converged on Montmartre and Montparnasse. Bennett spent the next eight years writing novels and plays. In 1908 The Old Wives' Tale was published, and was an immediate success throughout the English-speaking world. After a visit to America in 1911, where he had been publicised and acclaimed as no other visiting writer since Dickens, he returned to England where Old Wives' Tale was reappraised and hailed as a masterpiece. During the First World War, he became Director of Propaganda at the War Ministry. He refused a knighthood in 1918. He won the 1923 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Riceyman Steps and in 1926, at the suggestion of Lord Beaverbrook, he began writing an influential weekly article on books for the Evening Standard newspaper.

He separated from his French wife, Marguerite Soulie, in 1922, and fell in love with the actress Dorothy Cheston, with whom he stayed for the rest of his life. He died of typhoid at his home in Baker Street, London, on 27 March 1931. His ashes are buried in Burslem cemetery. Their daughter Virginia Eldin lived in France and was president of the Arnold Bennett Society.

WORKS

His most famous works are the Clayhanger trilogy and The Old Wives' Tale. These novels draw on his experience of life in the Potteries ("the Five Towns" of Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke and Logton), as did most of his best work. Bennett believed that ordinary people had the potential to be the subject of interesting books.

As well as the novels, much of Bennett's non-fiction work has stood the test of time. One of his most popular non-fiction works, which is still read to this day, is the self-help book "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day". His diaries have yet to be published in full, but extracts from them are often quoted in the British press. Bennett also wrote for the stage and the screen. His novel Buried Alive was made into the 1912 movie The Great Adventure and the 1968 musical Darling of the Day. Over the years, several of his other books have been made into films (eg The Card starring Alec Guinness) and television series (eg "Anna of the Five Towns" and "Clayhanger").

ODDITY

A special late supper dish, the "Omelette Arnold Bennett" was created for the author by the Savoy hotel in London and is still popular today.

Serves 1

3 Eggs

75g (3 oz) Smoked Haddock

15g (½ oz) Butter

1 tbsp Parmesan Cheese

1 tbsp Water

1 tbsp Double Cream

Salt and Black Pepper

Gently poach the haddock in fish stock for 7-8 minutes or until just tender.

Allow to cool and the remove any skin and bones.

Mix the flaked haddock with the cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl with the water.

Melt the butter in an omelette pan, pour in the eggs.

Place the fish and cheese on top of the eggs when they begin to set.

Pour over the cream while the eggs are still liquid and transfer to a hot grill for a few minutes until golden brown.

Do not fold, but slide on to a hot plate and serve immediately.