In addition to establishing an international reputation as a writer of Sci-Fi books, H.G. Wells co-founded the British Diabetic Association in 1934.
English author, Herbert George Wells, who died on 13 August 1946, has been commonly referred to as the father of science fiction.
H.G. Wells’ life was a real rags-to-riches tale. Born in September 1866, his mother was a domestic servant, his father ran a little shop and earned a bit extra playing cricket, but they could not long keep their son in school and he was apprenticed in his teens to a draper. He loathed the work, and it gave him a real sympathy for the poor and downtrodden, sparking his life-long interest in socialism. The story of how he escaped the draper, got himself an education and began to write is a fascinating one.
Wells was 29 when his first book, The Time Machine, was published in 1895, and by the time he was forty he had established an international reputation. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography, and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels.
Some remarkable women fell for Wells, but he was rarely faithful to anyone for long. He wasn’t especially handsome, but when in his company it seemed to these women that no other man could compare with him.
With bombs falling on London as he wrote, Wells kept writing to the very end. He died on 13 August 1946, one year after the end of WWII, aged 79. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the English Channel.
I loved writing a chapter on his visit to Australia in my book Brief Encounters: Literary Travellers in Australia because it was so controversial – he kicked up quite a fuss and managed to upset so many people. It’s hard to believe that he offended the Prime Minister of the day by stating that Hitler was a maniac (this was just before WWII) – he was rebuked for making such rude remarks about Germany’s Head of State.