Frank E. (Frank Edward) Smedley

Born in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, in 1818, Francis Edward Smedley was an English novelist usually published as Frank E. Smedley. He was educated privately and, despite serious physical disability from birth, built a successful literary career in the middle of the nineteenth century.

His first major success grew out of Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil, which appeared anonymously in Sharpe's London Magazine in the 1840s and later became the popular novel Frank Fairlegh. He went on to write more fiction and also worked as an editor, helping shape the lively magazine culture of Victorian England.

Smedley died in 1864. He is still remembered for energetic, good-humored novels that capture the pleasures and mishaps of youthful adventure.