Jeffery Farnol

{{Short description|British writer (1878–1952)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox writer  | name = John Jeffery Farnol | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = Picture of Jeffery Farnol.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = Jeffery Farnol | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1878|2|10}} | birth_place = Aston, Birmingham, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1952|8|9|1878|2|10}} | death_place = Eastbourne, England | resting_place = | occupation = writer | language = English | nationality = British | ethnicity = | religion = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = 1907–1952 | genre = Romance | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = Blanche Wilhelmina Victoria Hawley (1900–1938),<br />Phyllis Mary Clarke (1938–1952) | partner = | children = 2 | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | module = | website =  | portaldisp = }}

'''Jeffery Farnol''' (10 February 1878 – 9 August 1952) was a British writer from 1907 until his death in 1952, known for writing more than 40 romance novels, often set in the Georgian Era or English Regency period, and swashbucklers. He, with Georgette Heyer, largely initiated the Regency romantic genre.

==Biography==

===Personal life=== '''John Jeffery Farnol''' was born in Aston, Birmingham, UK, the son of Henry John Farnol, a factory-employed brass-founder, and Kate Jeffery. He had two brothers and a sister.<ref name="FarnolBio">{{Citation | title=Farnol: The Man Who Wrote Best-Sellers | author= Pat Bryan | publisher=Writers Club Press. | year=2002}}</ref> His childhood was spent in London and Kent. He attended the Westminster School of Art after losing his job with a Birmingham metal-working company.

In 1900, he married Blanche Wilhelmina Victoria Hawley (1883–1955), the 16-year-old daughter of noted New York scenic artist H. Hughson Hawley. They relocated to the United States, where he found work as a scene painter. They had daughter Gillian Hawley. He returned to England about 1910, and settled in Eastbourne, Sussex. During 1938, he divorced Blanche and married Phyllis Mary Clarke on 20 May, and adopted her daughter Charmian Jane.<ref name="20thRGW">{{Citation | title=Farnol: Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers | author1= James Vinson | author2= D. L. Kirkpatrick | publisher=Cengage Gale }}</ref> His nephew was Ewart Oakeshott, the British illustrator, collector, and amateur historian, who wrote on medieval arms and armour.

Farnol died on 9 August 1952 at age 74 in Eastbourne after a long struggle with cancer.

===Writing career=== Farnol published his first romance novel, ''My Lady Caprice'', in 1907. The success of his early novels led Farnol to become a professional writer. He produced about 40 novels and volumes of stories, and some non-fiction and children's books. His last book was completed by his second wife Phyllis.

This moderate success was followed by ''The Broad Highway'', a publishing sensation which became the best-selling book of 1911 in the world.

Farnol wrote a series of mysteries featuring Georgian policeman Jasper Shrig.

Two of his early books, ''The Amateur Gentleman'' and ''The Broad Highway'', have been issued in a version edited by romance novelist Barbara Cartland. ''The Amateur Gentleman'' was adapted for British cinema in 1920 and 1936, and for American cinema in 1926.

==Bibliography== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}}

===Single novels=== *''My Lady Caprice'' (1907) [Later issued as "Chronicles of the Imp"] *''The Broad Highway'' (1910) *''The Money Moon'' (1911) *''Fortune's Fool'' (1912) *''The Honourable Mr. Tawnish'' (1913) *''Beltane the Smith'' (1915) *''The Definite Object'' (1917) *''Our Admirable Betty'' (1918) *''The Geste of Duke Jocelyn'' (1919) *''Sir John Dering'' (1923) *''Gyfford of Weare'' (1928) *''The Shadow'' (1929) *''Another Day'' (1929) *''Over the Hills'' (1930) *''The Jade of Destiny'' (1931) *''Charmian Lady Vibart'' (1932) *''Voices from the Dust'' (1932) *''The Way Beyond'' (1933) *''Winds of Fortune'' (1934) *''John o'the Green'' (1935) *''Portrait of a Gentleman in Colours'' (1935) *''A Pageant of Victory'' (1936) *''A Book for Jane'' (1937) *''The Crooked Furrow'' (1937) (Trilogy with ''The Happy Harvest'' & ''Waif of the River'') *''The Lonely Road'' (1938) *''A New Book for Jane'' (1939) *''Adam Penfeather, Buccaneer'' (1940) *''A Matter of Business and other stories'' (1940) *''The King Liveth'' (1943) *''The Piping Times'' (1945) *''Heritage Perilous'' (1946) *''My Lord of Wrybourne'' (1948) [US Title: ''Most Sacred of All''] Sequel to ''Heritage Perilous'' *''The Fool Beloved'' (1949) *''The Glad Summer'' (1951) *''Justice by Midnight'' (1955) {{col-2}}

===Treasure and Vengeance Series=== #''Black Bartlemy's Treasure'' (1920) #''Martin Conisby's Vengeance'' (1921)

===Jasper Shrig Series=== #''The Amateur Gentleman'' (1913) #''Peregrine's Progress'' (1922) #''The Loring Mystery'' (1925) #''High Adventure'' (1926) #''The Quest of Youth'' (1927) #''The Way Beyond'' (1933) #''The Happy Harvest'' (1939) #''Murder by Nail'' (1942) [US Title: ''Valley of the Night''] #''The Ninth Earl'' (1950) #''Waif of the River'' (1952)

===Omnibus collections=== *''The Shadow, and Other Stories'' (1929) *''Voices from the Dust'' (1932) *''A Matter of Business'' (1940)

===Non fiction=== *''Some War Impressions'' (1918) *''Great Britain at War'' (1918) *''Famous Prize Fights or Epics of the Fancy'' (1928) {{col-end}}

==Film adaptations== *''The Amateur Gentleman'', directed by Maurice Elvey (UK, 1920, based on the novel ''The Amateur Gentleman'') *''The Definite Object'', directed by Edgar J. Camiller (UK, 1920, based on the novel ''The Definite Object'') *''The Money Moon'', directed by Fred Paul (UK, 1920, based on the novel ''The Money Moon'') *''Manhattan'', directed by R. H. Burnside (1924, based on the novel ''The Definite Object'') *''The Amateur Gentleman'', directed by Sidney Olcott (1926, based on the novel ''The Amateur Gentleman'') *''The Amateur Gentleman'', directed by Thornton Freeland (UK, 1936, based on the novel ''The Amateur Gentleman'')

==References and sources== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{wikisource|works=or|Jeffery Farnol}} {{commons category}} *[http://cres1.lancs.ac.uk/~esarie/farnol/farnol.htm Jeffery Farnol Appreciation Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000114094553/http://cres1.lancs.ac.uk/~esarie/farnol/farnol.htm |date=14 January 2000 }} *Jeffery Farnol [https://sites.google.com/site/jefferyfarnolpages/ Pages] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20041016200414/http://www.violetbooks.com/farnol-bio.html The Life and Times of Jeffery Farnol]

===Electronic editions=== * {{Gutenberg author |id=789 | name=Jeffery Farnol}} * {{FadedPage|id=Farnol, John Jeffery|name=John Jeffery Farnol|author=yes}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jeffery Farnol}} * {{OL author|1475076A|cname=Jeffery Farnol}} * {{Librivox author|id=5121}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnol, Jeffery}} Category:1878 births Category:1952 deaths Category:20th-century English novelists Category:20th-century English male writers Category:Alumni of the Westminster School of Art Category:Deaths from cancer in England Category:English historical novelists Category:English male novelists Category:People from Aston Category:Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Category:Writers of historical mysteries