Frederick James Whishaw was a Russian-born British novelist, historian, poet and musician. A popular author of children's fiction at the turn of the 20th century, he published over forty volumes of his work between 1884 and 1914. He was a prolific historical novelist, many of his books being set in Czarist Russia, and his "schoolboy" and adventureserials appeared in many boys' magazines of the era. Several of these were published as full-length novels, such as Gubbins Minor and Some Other Fellows, The Boys of Brierley Grange and The Competitors: A Tale of Upton House School. Other stories, such as The White Witch of the Matabele or The Three Scouts: A Story of the Boer War, depicted colonial Africa. Whishaw was also one of the first translators of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the first in the English language. He had several of the Russian author's novels published between 1886 and 1888.
Biography
Frederick James Whishaw was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, to English-born parents, Bernard Whishaw of Cheltenham and Isabel Maria Cattley, on 14 March 1854; he was one of eight children. His family had been in Russia since the 18th century. Eight weeks after his birth, his parents moved the family back to Great Britain and settled in Paignton, Devon where Whishaw would spend much of his childhood. He was educated at Leamington College and then at Uppingham where became an accomplished sportsman and tenor. He was also popular among his classmates for the food hampers he often received from Russia. At age 16, Whishaw left school and returned to St. Petersburg to work for an office firm. He spent much of his recreational time running and rowing. He also had a collection of verses, Loves of the Flowers, published in 1878. Unhappy with his occupation, Whishaw left Hills & Whishaw and eventually emigrated to England after his marriage to Ethel Charlotte Moberly on 30 March 1880. Their first and only child, Gwendolen, was born on 13 January 1884. Returning to his childhood home of Paignton, he began a career as a musician and soon became a well-known and successful tenor. During this time, he also began translating the work of Fyodor Dostoevsky which was published by Henry Vizetelly between 1886 and 1888. His efforts eventually resulted in many of Dostoevsky's novels being made available for English-language readers in Victorian Britainfor the first time. Whishaw was soon inspired to try his hand at writing and had his semi-autobiography, Out of Doors in Tsarland: A Record of the Seeings and Doings of a Wanderer in Russia, published in 1893. A year later, his wrote his first children's novel, Boris the Bear-Hunter, followed by ten more novels between 1895 and 1898, including his first collection of English "schoolboy" stories, Gubbins Minor and Some Other Fellows. These and other stories were published as popular serials in many boys' adventure magazines throughout his career. His schoolboy stories were a mix of gentle humor and more serious themes of public school life such as theft, house matches, and other common behavior of the time. It was his Russian-themed children's adventure stories and historical novels for which he was best known. Several of these stories took place in other parts of the world, such as colonial Africa, as seen in The White Witch of the Matabele, and focused on then-current events like The Three Scouts: A Story of the Boer War. Whishaw also wrote several books on Russian history, most notably the well-received Moscow: A Story of the French Invasion of 1812 in 1905. He wrote his final novel, A Bespoken Bride, in 1914 though many of his earlier stories continued to be reprinted for years afterwards. Whishaw died at his home in Slapton, Devon on 8 July 1934.
