William Westall

William Bury Westall was an English novelist and journalist, born in Lancashire in 1834. Before turning fully to writing, he worked in business, and that practical background later fed into fiction set among manufacturers, merchants, and ambitious families.

He became known as a remarkably productive writer of late-Victorian popular fiction, publishing dozens of novels. Titles often mentioned among his best-known works include The Old Factory, Strange Crimes, Her Ladyship's Secret, and Her Two Millions. His stories were written for a wide readership and mixed suspense, romance, social observation, and a taste for dramatic turns.

Westall also worked as a journalist and spent significant time on the continent, especially in Switzerland. That wider experience helped give his books a setting beyond England alone, while still keeping one foot in the industrial North that shaped his early life. He died in 1903.