Herbert George Wells

Herbert George Wells

One of the most prolific writers of his time, H.G. ( Herbert George) Wells was able to do it all. He was universal, and could write from many different sides. He was one of the most versitile writers, as he could write like a novelist, as in the The History of Mr. Polly. He could also write short stories, like The Star, or The Door In The Wall. He was also considered to be a visionary and a dreamer, as shown throughout A Modern Utopia, and Men Like Gods. What Wells was most famous for was his ability to be a scientific romancer. His novels, The Time Machine, The War of The Worlds, and The Invisible Man, were what he became most widely known for. All his writings, in the different genere's they were written from, truly prove he was one of the most versitile writers that ever lived.

The date was September 21, 1866, and the place was 47 (now renumbered 172) High Street, Bromley, Kent, a suburb of London.. His father, Joseph Wells, and his mother, Sarah, had been married in 1853 and they had four children. An elder sister, Fanny, had died at the age of 9 two years before H.G. was born. After he was born, his family was worried that he may also die like his sister Fanny, being that he was a sort of "weakling" and struggled to not get sick most of the time. His father was a shopkeeper and a professional cricketer, and his mother served from time to time as a housekeeper at the nearby estate of Uppark. His father's business failed and the family never made it to middle-class status, so Wells was apprenticed like his brothers to a draper, spending the years between 1880 and 1883 inWindsor and Southsea as a drapeist. In 1883 Wells became a teacher/pupil at Midhurst Grammar Scool. He obtained a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London and studied there biology under T.H. Huxley. However, his interest faltered and in 1887 he left without a degree. He taught in private schools for four years, not taking his B.S. degree until 1890. Next year he settled in London, married his cousin Isabel and continued his career as a teacher in a correspondence college. From 1893 Wells became a full-time writer.

After some years Wells left Isabel for one of his brightest students, Amy Catherine, whom he married in 1895.