Francis Charles Philips
Francis Charles Philips (3 February 1849 – 21 April 1921) was a British army officer, actor, theatre-manager, dramatist, barrister, journalist, short story writer and novelist. He wrote over forty novels and over a dozen plays. Biography He was born at Brighton, the younger son of the Rev. George Washington Philips (1784–1865), a slave owner on St Kitts. He was educated at Brighton College. After a course at Sandhurst, Philips became a British army officer, gazetted to the 2nd Queen's Royals shortly before his nineteenth birthday. He served for three years, mainly in Ireland and at Aldershot. After resigning his military commission, he became an actor, first in Liverpool and then in London. In 1880 he began the study of law and was called to the bar in 1884 at the Middle Temple. Due to his friendship with Čedomilj Mijatović, Philips was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Sava. Works In 1886 for a paper called Life, Philips wrote a weekly serial entitled Le Journal d'une Mondaine. After the completion of the serial, he tried to have it published in book form. After rejection by five publishing companies, Philips, on the advice of his friend Edward Morton, submitted the