Dalrymple J. Belgrave

Born in Hampshire in 1851, Dalrymple James Belgrave was an English barrister and novelist. Sources describe him as the second son of Commander Thomas Belgrave, R.N.; he studied at Cambridge, entered the Inner Temple, and was called to the bar in 1876.

Alongside his legal career, he wrote fiction and at least some reference work. Wikisource identifies him as a writer of crime fiction and notes that he also contributed articles to the Dictionary of National Biography. His surviving titles include Luck at the Diamond Fields, a novel set amid the dangers and ambitions of South Africa’s diamond fields, as well as works such as A Great Turf Fraud.

Belgrave died in 1922. He belongs to that especially interesting group of Victorian writers whose professional lives fed directly into their storytelling, giving their novels a practical feel as well as period atmosphere.