Gilbert Frankau

Born in London in 1884, Gilbert Frankau was a British writer known for novels, poetry, and short stories. He was educated at Eton and first worked in his family’s cigar business before building a literary career.

Frankau also served in the First World War, and that experience shaped parts of his writing. He became especially popular between the wars, when his fiction found a large readership and he was widely recognized as a successful commercial author.

He died in 1952. Although his fame has faded since his peak years, his work still offers a vivid glimpse of the tastes, anxieties, and social world of early-20th-century Britain.