Edgar Wallace
A former orphan turned pulp fiction king, he churned out thrillers at a breakneck pace that defined early 20th-century popular entertainment.
1875–1932 (age 57)·British writer·Birthday: April 1·The Gilded Age
Biography
Edgar Wallace's life reads like one of his own potboilers. Born into poverty in Greenwich, he was adopted by a Billingsgate fish porter and left school at twelve. A stint in the army took him to South Africa, where he began reporting on the Boer War. Back in London, he discovered his true calling: writing stories that sold by the millions. Wallace didn't just write books; he industrialized storytelling, dictating novels in a matter of days and creating a vast empire of plays, screenplays, and newspaper columns. His most enduring creation, King Kong, sprang from his mind, though he died before seeing the film made. He lived lavishly, died deeply in debt, and left behind a legacy as the godfather of the modern thriller, proving that pace and plot could captivate a nation.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Edgar was born in 1875, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Edgar Was Born
The biggest hits of 1875
Edgar's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1875Born
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1880Started school
Edison patents the incandescent light bulb
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1888Became a teenager
President: Grover Cleveland
1891Could drive
President: Benjamin Harrison
1893Could vote
World's Columbian Exposition dazzles Chicago
President: Grover Cleveland
1896Turned 21
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
President: Grover Cleveland
1905Turned 30
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1915Turned 40
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1925Turned 50
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Home: $4,366President: Calvin Coolidge"Sweet Georgia Brown" — Ben Bernie
1932Died at 57
Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Night and Day" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Grand Hotel
Key Achievements
- Pennished the original story treatment for the landmark 1933 film 'King Kong'.
- Authored over 170 novels, 950 short stories, and 18 stage plays, dominating British popular fiction in the 1920s.
- Became one of the first British crime writers to use a Juju curse as a central plot device in his 1905 novel 'The Four Just Men'.
- Served as a war correspondent for the Daily Mail during the Russo-Japanese War.
- His work was so popular that at one point, it was estimated a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.
Did You Know?
He dictated his novels to a secretary, often completing a full-length book over a single weekend.
Wallace stood as a Liberal Party candidate for Parliament in the 1931 general election but was not elected.
He owned a series of racing greyhounds and was a passionate, if not always successful, gambler.
His funeral procession through London was attended by vast crowds, comparable to those for royalty.
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