Charles Hamilton

Graeme Davis (University of Buckingham)

Ed. by Dimitra Fimi, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 1876
Died 1961

Places

Active in United Kingdom

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Hamilton's Works

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Charles Harold St John Hamilton (1876-1961), recognised by

The Guinness Book of Records

(1979) as the most prolific writer ever, has a corpus which defies easy definition. The statements that he wrote in total “the equivalent of one thousand full length novels” (Beal, 1986, p. 5) and over 100 million words (Lofts and Adley, 1970) are certainly under-estimates, as more and more writings under a range of pseudonyms have subsequently been identified as his. His fame rests primarily on his writing in the school genre, and in particular the imaginary English public schools of Greyfriars and St Jim’s with their lead characters Billy Bunter and Tom Merry.

Hamilton was born 8th August 1876 in the London suburb of Ealing. He was the sixth of eight children of John and Marion Hamilton. The

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1645 words

Citation: Davis, Graeme. "Charles Hamilton". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 January 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14700, accessed 21 November 2024.]