Robert B. (Robert Barnabas) Brough

Born in London on April 10, 1828, Robert Barnabas Brough was an English writer, journalist, and playwright. Reliable reference sources agree that he worked across several forms, including poetry, fiction, and drama, and that he contributed widely to periodicals during his brief career.

Accounts of his life also note that he began working life as a clerk in Manchester before moving more fully into literary and journalistic work. He is especially remembered for lively, satirical writing, including Songs of the Governing Classes, and for his place in a notably literary family: he was the son of novelist and poet Frances Brough.

Brough died on June 26, 1860, at only 32. Even with such a short life, he left behind a varied body of work that captures the energy, wit, and social bite of mid-Victorian writing.