Julian Osgood Field


Julian Osgood Field was an American socialite and writer. Some of his works were published under the pseudonyms X.L. or Sigma.

Biography

Julian Osgood Field was born on April 23, 1852, the son of Maunsell Bradhurst Field, who was an official of the US Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and Julia Field. Educated in England, he lived largely in London and Paris and became an intimate of the future King Edward VII of Great Britain. Field used the pseudonym X.L. to write decadent horror fiction. His anonymously authored books of recollections have been mined by biographers.
Despite his background, Field was a crook, moneylender's tout, and undischarged bankrupt, pursued by many creditors.
In 1901 he was sentenced to three months in prison for forging a document under the signature of a representative of Lord Astor's estate office which claimed he was to be paid a large sum of money for authoring society novels. Field used the document in an attempt to raise a loan.
He was responsible for involving Lady Ida Sitwell, mother of Osbert Sitwell, Sacheverell Sitwell and Edith Sitwell in a long-running financial scandal, which began in 1912. In 1914, Lady Ida successfully sued Field for fraud and breach duty. The following year, she was imprisoned for three months, and Field for 18 months, for conspiring to defraud another wealthy lady, Francis Bennett Dobbs.

Fiction bibliography

reprinted in Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula, ed. Christopher Frayling