1. Sir Walter Besant was an English novelist and historian.
12 Facts About Walter Besant
1. 2.
William Henry Besant was his brother, and another brother, Frank, was the husband of Annie Besant.
3.
The son of wine merchant William Walter Besant, he was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire and attended school at St Paul's, Southsea, Stockwell Grammar, London and King's College London.
4.
In 1874, Walter Besant married Mary Garrett, daughter of Eustace Foster-Barham, of Bridgwater, with whom he had four children.
5.
Thereafter, Walter Besant continued to write voluminously by himself, his main novels being All in a Garden Fair, Dorothy Forster, Children of Gibeon, and All Sorts and Conditions of Men.
6.
Walter Besant was a freemason, joining the Lodge of Harmony in Mauritius in 1862.
7.
Walter Besant became Master of Marquis of Dalhousie Lodge, London in 1873, having joined in 1869.
8.
Walter Besant was one of the founders of the first Masonic research lodge, Quatuor Coronati Lodge No 2076, of which he was the first treasurer from 1886.
9.
Walter Besant was one of the founders and first chair of the Society of Authors in 1884.
10.
Walter Besant was knighted in the 1895 Birthday Honours as a Knight Bachelor.
11.
Walter Besant was treasurer of the "Atlantic Union", an association which sought to improve social relations between Britons and Americans.
12.
Walter Besant died in Frognal in Hampstead, London on 9 June 1901, aged 64.