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CHARLES WILLIAM SHIRLEY BROOKS (1816-...

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 649 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHARLES See also:WILLIAM See also:SHIRLEY See also:BROOKS (1816-1874)  , See also:English novelist, playwright and journalist, was See also:born on the 29th of See also:April 1816 . He was the son of a See also:London architect, and was articled in 1832 to a See also:solicitor for five years . He became See also:parliamentary reporter for the See also:Morning See also:Chronicle, and in 1853 was sent by that See also:paper as See also:special See also:commissioner to investigate the subject of labour and the poor in See also:southern See also:Russia, See also:Egypt and See also:Syria; the result of his inquiries appearing first in the See also:form of letters to the editor, and afterwards is a See also:separate See also:volume, under the See also:title of The Russians of the See also:South (1856) . He wrote, sometimes alone, sometimes in See also:conjunction with others, slight dramatic pieces of the See also:burlesque See also:kind, among which- may be mentioned Anything for a See also:Change (1848), The Daughter of the Stars (185o) . See also:Brooks was for many years on the See also:staff of the Illustrated London See also:News, contributing the weekly See also:article on the politics of the See also:day, and the two See also:series entitled " Nothing in the Papers " and " By the Way." In 1851 he joined the staff of See also:Punch, and noteworthy among his numerous contributions were the weekly satirical summaries of the parliamentary debates, entitled " The Essence of See also:Parliament." His See also:long service as newspaper reporter gave him special aptitude for this playful See also:parody . In 1870, on the See also:death of See also:Mark See also:Lemon, " dear old See also:Shirley," as his See also:friends used to See also:call him, was chosen to succeed to the editorial See also:chair . His first novel, See also:Aspen See also:Court, was published in 1855 . It was followed by The See also:Gordian See also:Knot (186o), The See also:Silver See also:Cord (1861) and Sooner or Later (1868) . Brooks was a See also:great See also:letter-writer, deliberately cultivating the practice as an See also:art, and imitating the See also:style in See also:vogue before See also:newspapers and telegraphs suppressed private letters . He had an astonishing memory, was brilliant as an epigrammatist, was a great reader and a most genial See also:companion . He was in his See also:element with a See also:group of See also:children, See also:reading to them, sharing their fun and always remembering the birthdays . He died in London, on the 23rd of See also:February 1874, and was buried near his friends See also:Leech and See also:Thackeray, in Kensal See also:Green See also:cemetery .

See G . S .

End of Article: CHARLES WILLIAM SHIRLEY BROOKS (1816-1874)
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