Bertram Fletcher Robinson

Bertram Fletcher Robinson pictured during the period of his editorship of Vanity Fair (c. 1906).

Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870-1907) was an English sportsperson, 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 for his literary collaborations with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir P. G. Wodehouse, Sir Max Pemberton and Sir Malcolm Fraser, 1st Baronet.

Early Life and Family

Bertram Fletcher Robinson (affectionately referred to as either 'Bobbles' or 'Bertie') was born on 22 August 1870 at 80 Rose Lane, Mossley Hill, Liverpool. During early 1882, he relocated with his family to Park Hill House at Ipplepen in Devon. His father, Joseph Fletcher Robinson (1827-1903), was the founder of a general merchant business in Liverpool (c. 1867). Around 1850, Joseph travelled to South America and was befriended by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Thereafter, he fought in the Guerra Grande alongside Garibaldi and the Uruguayans against the Argentine dictator, Juan Manuel de Rosas. Robinson's uncle, Sir John Richard Robinson (1828-1903), was the long-time Editor-in-chief of the London Daily News newspaper and a prominent committee member of the Liberal Reform Club.

Career

The Chronicles of Addington Peace by Bertram Fletcher Robinson (London: Harper & Brother, June 1905).

Robinson was educated at Newton Abbot Proprietary College (1882-1890) and Jesus College, Cambridge (1890-1894). He qualified as a barrister before embarking upon a literary career. He held editorial positions with The Newtonian (1887-1889), The Granta (1893-1895), The Isthmian Library (1897-1901), Daily Express (1900-1904), Vanity Fair (magazine, historical) (1904-1907) and The World, a journal for Men and Women (1906/1907).

Between 1893 and 1907, Robinson wrote or co-wrote at least 9 satirical playlets (including 4 with his friend, PG Wodehouse), 54 short stories (including 7 with his friend, Sir Malcolm Fraser, 1st Baronet), 4 lyrics, 44 articles (for 15 different periodicals), 128 newspaper reports, 24 poems and 8 books. He also edited a further 8 books about various sports and pastimes for The Isthmian Library (1897-1901). During 1951, Robinson's book entitled The Chronicles of Addington Peace (London: Harper & Brother, 1905) was listed in the influential Queen's Quorum: A History of the Detective-Crime Short Story as Revealed by the 106 Most Important Books Published in this Field Since 1845 (see both Ellery Queen & [1]).

During July 1900, Robinson and Arthur Conan Doyle 'cemented' their friendship aboard a ship that was destined for Southampton from Cape Town. Thereafter, Robinson told Doyle legends of ghostly hounds, Squire Richard Cabell III and showed him around Dartmoor. The pair had previously agreed to co-author a Devon-based story together but in the end, their collaboration led only to Doyle's novella, The Hound of the Baskervilles (see [2]). Robinson also contributed an idea to the plot of a second Sherlock Holmes story entitled The Adventure of the Norwood Builder (1903).

Doyle is sometimes seen as downplaying the importance of Robinson's contribution to The Hound of the Baskervilles. W. W. Robson wrote that it is 'impossible to determine' the precise extent of Robinson's role, but in all probability he merely acted as a 'creative trigger'. He adds that once the element of Sherlock Holmes was added to the original idea, the novel evolved beyond the joint project that was originally posited. Robinson himself, conceded that his part in the collaboration was restricted to that of an 'assistant plot producer'.

Marriage

On 3 June 1902, 31 year-old Robinson married 22 year-old Gladys Hill Morris at St. Barnabas Church, Kensington, London. Gladys was a self-proclaimed 'actress' and a daughter of the noted Victorian artist Philip Richard Morris (1833-1902). The couple had no children of their own. However, the Robinsons acted as godparents to Geraldine Winn Everett, the daughter of Percy Everett (see [3]).

Death

The grave of Bertram Fletcher Robinson at St. Andrew's Church in Ipplepen, Devon.

Robinson died aged just 36 years and 153 days on 21 January 1907, at 44 Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London. The official cause of his death is recorded as 'enteric fever (3 weeks) and peritonitis (24 hours)'. Robinson is buried beside his parents at St. Andrew’s Church, Ipplepen, near Newton Abbot in Devon (see [4]).

Obituaries were published in The World, The Times, Daily Express, The Western Guardian, The Western Morning News, The Sphere, The Athenaeum, The Illustrated London News, The Mid-Devon and Newton Times, Vanity Fair, The Book of Blues and the Annual Report of the Jesus College Cambridge Society (1907). The English poet and journalist, Jessie Pope also wrote the following eulogy to Bertram Fletcher Robinson, which was published in the Daily Express newspaper on Saturday 26 January 1907:

Good Bye, kind heart; our benisons preceding,
Shall shield your passing to the other side.
The praise of your friends shall do your pleading
In love and gratitude and tender pride.
To you gay humorist and polished writer,
We will not speak of tears or startled pain.
You made our London merrier and brighter,
God bless you, then, until we meet again!

Memorial Service

Alfred Harmsworth employed Bertram Fletcher Robinson at the time of his death.

At 4pm on Thursday 24 January 1907, The Reverend Septimus Pennington conducted a memorial service for Robinson at St. Clement Danes, Strand, London (see [5]). According to a report in the Daily Express newspaper (Saturday 26 January 1907), the congregation included the following notable figures: Arthur Hammond Marshall (see [6]), Owen Seaman, Max Pemberton, Cyril Arthur Pearson, Percy Everett, Alfred Harmsworth, Joseph Lawrence, Sir Felix Sermon (see [7]), Sir William Bell (former member of the British Iron Trade Association & tax-reform campaigner), Anthony Hope Hawkins, Clement King Shorter (see [8]), Gerald Fitzgerald Campbell (see [9]), Leslie Ward (‘Spy’), Thomas Anstey Guthrie, Leonard Upcott Gill (journalist, author & publisher), Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench (see [10]) and Henry Hamilton Fyfe (see [11]). The congregation sang a hymn entitled Peace, Perfect Peace. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was unable to attend either the funeral or the memorial service because he was at that time, busily campaigning for the release from prison of one George Edalji. He did however send a floral tribute to the funeral service in Ipplepen with a message that read "In loving memory of an old and valued friend from Arthur Conan Doyle".

Aftermath

File:The Wheels of Anarchy (1908).jpg

The Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pemberton (London: Cassell & Co. Ltd., 1908).

During 1908, the popular British author Max Pemberton had a story entitled Wheels of Anarchy published by Cassell & Company (London). This story is based upon notes that were written by Robinson shortly before his death (see [12]). It is an adventure tale about anarchists and assassins that is set across Europe. The novel’s hero, Mr. Bruce Driscoll, a recent Cambridge graduate, appears to be partially modelled upon Robinson.

During 1909, Gladys Robinson sold both Park Hill House and 44 Eaton Terrace and she then appears to have moved to continental Europe. During World War I, Gladys met a Royal Artillery officer called Major William John Frederick Halliday (Distinguished Service Order). He was born in London during 1882 and was affectionately referred to as 'Fred'. The couple got married at the British Diplomatic mission in Paris on 7 January 1918 and thereafter, they relocated to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire (see [13]).

In October 1912, Conan Doyle's story, The Lost World was published as a novel. This story is narrated by a character called Edward E. Malone. It is possible that Malone is also partially modelled upon Robinson. Like Robinson, Malone was raised in the West Country, became an accomplished rugby union player, a London-based journalist and loved a woman called Gladys.

During 2008, Paul Spiring wrote two Robinson related books with Brian W. Pugh (see [14] & [15]). Both of these works examine the extent of the collaboration between Robinson and Doyle over The Hound of the Baskervilles (see [16] & [17]). In August of that same year, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter, Sir Andrew McFarlane, Queen's Counsel [18], declined an application to exhume Robinson in order to test a theory that he was poisoned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (see [19], [20], [21] & [22]).

In January 2009, Ipplepen Parish Council gave permission for a commemorative bench and plaque to be situated outside Caunters Close in Ipplepen (see [23]). The inscription on the plaque reads as follows: 'Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870-1907). Journalist, Editor, Author and former resident of Ipplepen. He assisted Arthur Conan Doyle with The Hound of the Baskervilles' (see [24] & [25]).

During 2009, Paul Spiring compiled a collection of twenty Robinson short stories for an anthology that is entitled Aside Arthur Conan Doyle (see [26], [27], [28] & [29]). Thereafter, he also compiled a collection of fifteen Robinson non fiction articles for a book entitled The World of Vanity Fair (see [30] & [31]). Spiring's fifth book, Bobbles & Plum is a compilation of four playlets by Robinson and PG Wodehouse and it was published during July 2009 (see [32], [33], [34] & [35]).

External links

• Bertram Fletcher Robinson tribute website
• Bertram Fletcher Robinson Chronology