As Anthony West put it: "In the context of his time, he was, for his class, a master storyteller."
John Galsworthy's roots, on his father's side, were in Devon. His grandfather, a prosperous Plymstock merchant, came to London in 1833 and quickly increased his wealth by investing shrewdly in local real estate. John Galsworthy III, the novelist's father, was not only a practicing solicitor but a skilled businessman in his own right. "Old John" Galsworthy served as a director of several firms and also bought, sold, and managed a good deal of property in and around London. When he died in 1904 at the age of eighty-seven, he left an estate valued in the six figures, a generous portion of which provided each of his four children with a handsome legacy and a lifelong annuity. Galsworthy was devoted to his father, whose relentless business sense was paralleled by the unfailing gentleness he showed his children. In an autobiographical sketch written in 1919, Galsworthy observed that "my father really predominated in me from the start, and ruled my life. I was so truly and deeply fond of him that I seemed not to have a fair share of love left to give my mother." In fact, Blanche Bartleet Galsworthy was not particularly lovable: she was aloof, hypochondriacal, and obsessed with household tidiness.
This is a free page. This page contains 187 words. This
biography contains 7,484 words (approx. 25 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our John Galsworthy Access Pass.
