Joseph Hocking

Born in St Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall, on November 7, 1860, Joseph Hocking became known both as a novelist and as a United Methodist Free Church minister. He wrote in a direct, accessible style, often bringing together drama, faith, temptation, and redemption in ways that appealed to a broad readership.

Hocking was also part of a notably literary family: his siblings included the writers Silas Hocking and Salome Hocking. Over the course of his career, he produced a remarkably large number of novels and other works, building a reputation as a prolific popular author as well as a preacher.

He died on March 4, 1937. Though he is less famous now than some of his contemporaries, he remains an interesting figure in Cornish literary history, especially for readers drawn to fiction shaped by religion, conscience, and late Victorian and Edwardian social life.