author
Hedley Peek
1858–1904
A late-Victorian writer with one foot in business and the other in imaginative fiction, remembered today for an early scientific romance that gives his work an unusual place in genre history.
1 Audiobook
The Chariot of the Flesh
by Hedley Peek
About the author
Born in Liverpool in 1858, Hedley Peek — formally Francis Hedley Peek — came from the family behind the biscuit firm Peek Freans. He later became the company’s first chairman in 1901, while also building a literary life of his own as a writer, publisher, and sportsman.
His best-known books include Nema and Other Stories (1895) and The Chariot of the Flesh (1897). Reference sources describe him as a British author of fantasy and early science fiction, and The Chariot of the Flesh is often noted for its striking speculative ideas.
Peek died in London in 1904. Reliable sources found here confirm his dates, his connection to Peek Freans, and his reputation as an author, but I did not find a clearly verified portrait image on the pages available, so no profile image is included.