Hugh Kingsmill facts for kids

Hugh Kingsmill Lunn (born November 21, 1889 – died May 15, 1949) was a talented British writer and journalist. He often used just "Hugh Kingsmill" for his work. His brothers, Arnold Lunn and Brian Lunn, were also writers.

Life Story of Hugh Kingsmill

Hugh Kingsmill Lunn was born in Bloomsbury, London. His father, Sir Henry Simpson Lunn, started a famous travel company called Lunn Poly. Hugh went to Harrow School and then to the University of Oxford.

After college, he worked briefly for a magazine. In 1916, he joined the British Army and fought in World War I. He was captured in France in 1917 and became a prisoner of war in Germany. Other writers, like Alec Waugh, were also held there with him.

After the war, Kingsmill started writing. He wrote many different kinds of books, including science fiction and crime fiction. He also wrote essays, biographies (life stories of people), funny parodies, and edited collections of writings. He was known for saying, "friends are God's apology for relations," which means friends can be even better than family sometimes!

Kingsmill was the literary editor for Punch magazine from 1942 to 1944. He also worked for the New English Review from 1945 to 1949. He was married twice and had several children. He passed away in Brighton in 1949.

Kingsmill's Satire and Humor

Hugh Kingsmill had a sharp and witty sense of humor. He used the word "Dawnist" to describe people who had very unrealistic or overly hopeful ideas about the future. He thought these ideas were often wrong.

Kingsmill was especially good at writing parodies. A parody is a funny imitation of someone else's writing style. His parody of the poet A. E. Housman was so good that Housman himself said it was "the best I have seen, and indeed, the only good one."

Kingsmill as an Anthologist

Even though Hugh Kingsmill wrote novels, biographies, and essays, he is most famous today as an anthologist. An anthologist collects and edits writings by different authors into one book.

He put together at least eight humorous and original anthologies. His first one, An Anthology of Invective and Abuse (1929), was very popular. It collected angry and insulting writings from different times. Kingsmill himself felt a bit tired of people only praising this book, even though it was a big success.

Another funny anthology he made was The Worst of Love (1931). This book collected examples of badly written or insincere stories about love. Because Kingsmill read a lot and had a great memory, he could create an anthology very quickly. This helped him earn money when he needed it.

Selected Works by Hugh Kingsmill

Hugh Kingsmill wrote many books. Here are a few examples:

• The Will To Love (1919): This was one of his early novels.
• The Dawn's Delay (1924): This book included three shorter novels.
• Blondel (1927): A novel that was not a historical story, even though it was set in the time of Richard the Lionheart.
• Matthew Arnold (1928): A biography of the writer Matthew Arnold, written in a casual style.
• An Anthology Of Invective And Abuse (1929): His very successful collection of angry writings.
• The Return of William Shakespeare (1929): A novel where Shakespeare comes back to life in the 1940s and reads what critics have written about him.
• Behind Both Lines (1930): His funny memories from his time as a soldier in World War I.
• More Invective (1930): A follow-up to his popular "Invective" anthology.
• The Worst of Love (1931): A collection of poorly written pieces about love.
• Frank Harris (1932): A biography of Frank Harris, whom Kingsmill had worked with.
• The Table of Truth (1933): This book contained parodies, including his famous one of A. E. Housman.
• Samuel Johnson (1933): Many people consider this his best biography, showing his admiration for the famous writer Samuel Johnson.
• The Sentimental Journey (1934): A biography of Charles Dickens.
• The English Genius (1938): Kingsmill edited this book, which featured new essays about English character and achievements.
• The Fall (1940): This novel is often seen as one of his best, telling a story about marriage problems.
• The Poisoned Crown (1944): This book contained essays about famous historical figures like Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon, and Abraham Lincoln.
• The High Hill of the Muses (1955): This was his last completed anthology, published after he passed away.