Anthony Trollope

24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882

Born in London on 24 April 1815, Trollope attended Harrow School as a free day pupil for three years from the age of seven. After a spell at a private school at Sunbury, he moved to Winchester College, where he remained for three years. He then returned to Harrow as a day-boy because of the expense. Trollope had some very miserable experiences at these two public schools.  At the age of twelve, he fantasised about suicide.

In 1827, Trollope’s mother, Frances Trollope, moved to America. She returned in 1831 and quickly became a successful writer, beginning with the best-selling Domestic Manners of the Americans. His father’s affairs, however, went from bad to worse.  In 1834, the family fled to Belgium to avoid arrest for debt. They moved to a house near Bruges, where they lived entirely on Frances’s earnings.

Trollope returned to London in the autumn of 1834 to take up a clerkship in the Post Office. He remained an employee of the Post Office for more than 30 years, resigning in 1867. By that time, he was earning enough as a writer to forego his civil service pension.

In 1841, Trollope took up a position in Ireland for the Post Office. There, he met Rose Heseltine, and in 1844 they married.

The Trollopes returned to England in 1859. By this time, Trollope was an established author, having published several novels, and achieving success with publication of The Warden in 1855.

Trollope died 6 December 1882 in Marylebone, London. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.