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Walter Besant
1836–1901
A Victorian novelist and social historian, he wrote lively fiction, helped found the Society of Authors, and became one of the best-known literary champions of London’s history and everyday life.
32 Audiobooks
The History of London
by Walter Besant
Westminster
by Walter Besant, G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton, Mrs. A. Murray Smith
Holborn and Bloomsbury
by Walter Besant, G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton
Jerusalem, the City of Herod and Saladin
by Walter Besant, Edward Henry Palmer
Early London: Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Norman
by Walter Besant
South London
by Walter Besant
London in the Time of the Tudors
by Walter Besant
London in the Time of the Stuarts
by Walter Besant
London City
by Walter Besant
East London
by Walter Besant
The Golden Butterfly
by Walter Besant, James Rice
All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story
by Walter Besant
The Strand District
by Walter Besant, G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton
Mediæval London, Volume 1: Historical & Social
by Walter Besant
London
by Walter Besant
The Lady of Lynn
by Walter Besant
The Chaplain of the Fleet
by Walter Besant, James Rice
The Ivory Gate, a new edition
by Walter Besant
Fifty Years Ago
by Walter Besant
For Faith and Freedom
by Walter Besant
In Luck at Last
by Walter Besant
Mediæval London, Volume 2: Ecclesiastical
by Walter Besant
The Orange Girl
by Walter Besant
The inner house
by Walter Besant
Armorel of Lyonesse: A Romance of To-day
by Walter Besant
The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies
by Walter Besant
Westminster
by Walter Besant
The Queen's Reign and Its Commemoration
by Walter Besant
The Changeling
by Walter Besant
The Revolt of Man
by Walter Besant
The Fourth Generation
by Walter Besant
As We Are and As We May Be
by Walter Besant
About the author
Born in 1836, Walter Besant was an English writer remembered for both his novels and his wide-ranging books about London. Early in his career he taught at the Royal College of Mauritius, and after returning to England he turned fully to writing.
He first won major success through his partnership with James Rice, producing popular novels such as Ready-Money Mortiboy and The Golden Butterfly. After Rice’s death, Besant continued to publish fiction on his own, including All Sorts and Conditions of Men, while also becoming an energetic public voice for authors’ rights.
Besant helped found the Society of Authors and later became one of its leading figures. He was also deeply interested in the life of the city, and his studies of London mixed history, observation, and social concern in a way that still makes them appealing to readers curious about Victorian England.