author
John Ayscough
1858–1928
A Catholic priest who wrote fiction under the pen name John Ayscough, he was known for novels and reflective travel writing shaped by faith, history, and church life. His work offered early 20th-century readers a warm, observant view of both everyday England and the wider Catholic world.
1 Audiobook
Mariquita: A Novel
by John Ayscough
About the author
Born Francis Browning Bickerstaffe on 11 February 1858, he later became better known by the pen name John Ayscough. He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1878, and was ordained a priest in 1884.
Alongside his religious career, he built a literary reputation as a British writer of novels, essays, and travel books. His writing often drew on Catholic experience and culture, which gave his books a distinctive voice for readers interested in faith as well as fiction.
He died on 3 July 1928. Today, John Ayscough is remembered as both a churchman and an author whose books captured a thoughtful corner of English Catholic life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.