Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. The son of a wealthy French father and English mother, Belloc was born in La Celle St. Cloud, France, a few days before the Franco-Prussian War broke out on 27 July 1870.
Belloc was only two years old when his father died which prompted his mother to relocate the family to England and he grew up in West Sussex, England. He became a naturalised British subject in 1902 while retaining his French citizenship and enjoyed a prolific period of writing throughout the early part of the 20th century.
Belloc’s writings encompassed religious poetry and comic verse for children. His widely sold Cautionary Tales for Children included “Jim, who ran away from his nurse, and was eaten by a lion” and “Matilda, who told lies and was burned to death”. He wrote historical biographies and numerous travel works, including The Path to Rome (1902). He also collaborated with G. K. Chesterton on a number of works.
Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. His Catholic faith had a strong effect on his works.
In 1896 he married Elodie Hogan who bore him five children before she contracted pneumonia and died in 1914. Belloc grieved so much that he preserved her room precisely as she left it right up to his own death in July 1953.
