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George Robert Sims
George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and bon vivant.
In the 1870s Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for Fun magazine, of which he became editor, and The Referee, his light verses from which sold separately and remained popular for decades. He was soon concentrating on social reform, particularly the plight of the poor in London's slums, which helped to bring about reform legislation. He also founded a charity to fund free school meals in London. A prolific journalist and writer he also produced a number of novels, a volume of reminiscences, writings on leisure and travel, and detective stories.
Sims wrote more than 30 plays, often in collaboration, several of which had long runs, tours and international success. During a tour of one of them, however, the Exeter Theatre Royal burned down, killing 186 people. He bred bulldogs, was an avid sports enthusiast and had a large circle of literary and artistic friends. By the time of his death, he had gambled most of his substantial fortune away. The Times wrote in Sims's obituary that
"so attractive and original was the personality revealed in his abundant output—for he was a wonderfully hard worker—that no other journalist has ever occupied quite the same place in the affections not only of the great public but also of people of more discriminating taste.... Sims was indeed a born journalist, with the essential flair added to shrewd common sense, imagination, wide sympathies, a vivid interest in every side of life, and the most ardent patriotism.... He was [also] a highly successful playwright... a zealous social reformer, an expert criminologist, a connoisseur in good eating and drinking, in racing, in dogs, in boxing, and in all sorts of curious and out-of-the-way people and things."
Sims was born in Kennington, London, England. His parents were George Sims, a prosperous merchant, and Louisa Amelia Ann née Stevenson, president of the Women's Provident League. Sims was the oldest of six children, who were exposed to their parents' cosmopolitan artistic and progressive friends, including suffragists. He grew up in Islington, London, and his mother often took him to the theatre. He was educated in Eastbourne and then Hanwell Military College and the University of Bonn. He had begun to write poetry at the age of ten, and at Bonn he wrote some plays, including an adaptation of Dr. Wespe by Roderich Benedix. He completed his studies in Germany and France, where he also became interested in gambling. In Europe, he translated Balzac's Contes drôlatiques, which was published in 1874 by Chatto and Windus; but it was considered too racy and was withdrawn, only to be reissued in 1903.
Sims was married three times and was twice a widower. In 1876 he married Sarah Elizabeth Collis (b. 1850), in 1888 he married Annie Maria Harriss (b. 1859) and in 1901 he married Elizabeth Florence Wykes (b. 1873), who survived him. None of these marriages produced any children.
He returned to England and briefly worked in his father's business, but his interests lay in writing, and he began to write stories and poetry. He began to publish pieces in Fun in 1874, succeeding editor Tom Hood and making friendships with fellow contributors W. S. Gilbert and Ambrose Bierce. He also contributed early to the Weekly Dispatch. In 1876, Sims penned a satiric open letter "To a Fashionable Tragedian", humorously accusing actor-producer Henry Irving of inciting mass murder by emphasising the gore in his Shakespeare plays and of paying bribes to critics. Irving sued Sims and his editor Harry Sampson for libel, but after an apology he withdrew the legal action.
In 1877, he began contributing to a new Sunday sports and entertainments paper, edited by Sampson, The Referee, writing a weekly column of miscellany, "Mustard and Cress", under the pseudonym Dagonet, until his death. This was so successful that compilations of his verses from the paper, published as The Dagonet Ballads (1879) and Ballads of Babylon (1880), sold in hundreds of thousands of copies and were constantly in print during the next thirty years. He also wrote amusing and popular travelogues, also as Dagonet. He became editor of One and All in 1879 and for various papers wrote about horse racing, showing dogs, boxing, and leisure. Although Sims published his "Mustard and Cress" column every week for 45 years without fail, according to The Times:
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George Robert Sims
George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and bon vivant.
In the 1870s Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for Fun magazine, of which he became editor, and The Referee, his light verses from which sold separately and remained popular for decades. He was soon concentrating on social reform, particularly the plight of the poor in London's slums, which helped to bring about reform legislation. He also founded a charity to fund free school meals in London. A prolific journalist and writer he also produced a number of novels, a volume of reminiscences, writings on leisure and travel, and detective stories.
Sims wrote more than 30 plays, often in collaboration, several of which had long runs, tours and international success. During a tour of one of them, however, the Exeter Theatre Royal burned down, killing 186 people. He bred bulldogs, was an avid sports enthusiast and had a large circle of literary and artistic friends. By the time of his death, he had gambled most of his substantial fortune away. The Times wrote in Sims's obituary that
"so attractive and original was the personality revealed in his abundant output—for he was a wonderfully hard worker—that no other journalist has ever occupied quite the same place in the affections not only of the great public but also of people of more discriminating taste.... Sims was indeed a born journalist, with the essential flair added to shrewd common sense, imagination, wide sympathies, a vivid interest in every side of life, and the most ardent patriotism.... He was [also] a highly successful playwright... a zealous social reformer, an expert criminologist, a connoisseur in good eating and drinking, in racing, in dogs, in boxing, and in all sorts of curious and out-of-the-way people and things."
Sims was born in Kennington, London, England. His parents were George Sims, a prosperous merchant, and Louisa Amelia Ann née Stevenson, president of the Women's Provident League. Sims was the oldest of six children, who were exposed to their parents' cosmopolitan artistic and progressive friends, including suffragists. He grew up in Islington, London, and his mother often took him to the theatre. He was educated in Eastbourne and then Hanwell Military College and the University of Bonn. He had begun to write poetry at the age of ten, and at Bonn he wrote some plays, including an adaptation of Dr. Wespe by Roderich Benedix. He completed his studies in Germany and France, where he also became interested in gambling. In Europe, he translated Balzac's Contes drôlatiques, which was published in 1874 by Chatto and Windus; but it was considered too racy and was withdrawn, only to be reissued in 1903.
Sims was married three times and was twice a widower. In 1876 he married Sarah Elizabeth Collis (b. 1850), in 1888 he married Annie Maria Harriss (b. 1859) and in 1901 he married Elizabeth Florence Wykes (b. 1873), who survived him. None of these marriages produced any children.
He returned to England and briefly worked in his father's business, but his interests lay in writing, and he began to write stories and poetry. He began to publish pieces in Fun in 1874, succeeding editor Tom Hood and making friendships with fellow contributors W. S. Gilbert and Ambrose Bierce. He also contributed early to the Weekly Dispatch. In 1876, Sims penned a satiric open letter "To a Fashionable Tragedian", humorously accusing actor-producer Henry Irving of inciting mass murder by emphasising the gore in his Shakespeare plays and of paying bribes to critics. Irving sued Sims and his editor Harry Sampson for libel, but after an apology he withdrew the legal action.
In 1877, he began contributing to a new Sunday sports and entertainments paper, edited by Sampson, The Referee, writing a weekly column of miscellany, "Mustard and Cress", under the pseudonym Dagonet, until his death. This was so successful that compilations of his verses from the paper, published as The Dagonet Ballads (1879) and Ballads of Babylon (1880), sold in hundreds of thousands of copies and were constantly in print during the next thirty years. He also wrote amusing and popular travelogues, also as Dagonet. He became editor of One and All in 1879 and for various papers wrote about horse racing, showing dogs, boxing, and leisure. Although Sims published his "Mustard and Cress" column every week for 45 years without fail, according to The Times: