Frank E. (Frank Edward) Smedley

Born in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, on October 4, 1818, Francis Edward Smedley was an English novelist whose books usually appeared under the name Frank E. Smedley. He was educated privately and, despite serious physical disability from birth, built a successful literary career in magazines and fiction.

His early work, Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil, first appeared anonymously in Sharpe's London Magazine in the late 1840s and proved popular enough to launch him as a novelist. He later became associated with magazine editing as well, and his best-known book, Frank Fairlegh, helped make him a recognizable name to Victorian readers.

Smedley died on May 1, 1864. He is remembered mainly for brisk, entertaining novels about youthful misadventures and social life, written in a light, readable style that still gives a clear glimpse of mid-19th-century popular fiction.