Robert Hope MoncrieffAscott was never part of his name, but was adopted by him as part of his pseudonym. It may have been a punning reference to his origin A Scot. He used the name A. R. Hope Moncrieff for some of his books for adults, including the semi-autobiographical A Book About Authors. (26 February 1846 – 10 August 1927), known by the pen names A. R. Hope Moncreiff and Ascott R. Hope, was a prolific Scottish author of children's fiction and of Black's Guides.
Early life Robert Hope Moncrieff was born on 26 February 1846, the lawful son of George Moncrieff (11 May 191716 May 1865), a solicitor and his first wife Angela Birch (19 September 182025 December 1848). The couple had married the previous year in St Brides Church in Liverpool on 2 June 1845. Robert was quickly followed by a brother, John Forbes (5 July 18477 March 1927), and a sister, Angela Mary (27 November 18488 March 1864).
Moncrieff's mother, Angela, died of childbed fever four weeks after the birth of Angela Mary. Moncrieff was under three. His father married a second time on 27 June 1854 to Maria Wilks Williamson Rodgers (183030 March 1859) in Kilkenny, Ireland.The census shows that Maria Rodgers was born in Scotland. Her father was a staff officer, and presumably was posted to Ireland at the time. The family now lived at No 7, Atholl CrescentThe house is now occupied by the Perth Citizens' Advice Bureau. in Perth. Maria gave George three more children: George Henry (2 November 185523 February 1947); Francis Edward (24 March 18577 January 1884); and Henrietta (14 June 185830 April 1859), who died in infancy.The cause of death was given as hydrocephalus on the register of deaths.
Moncrieff's step-mother, Maria, diedThe death register gives the cause as consumption (this usually means what is now called Tuberculosis) of some twelve months duration. when he was just 13, and his father married again before he was 15. His third wife was Isabella Roy (29 October 182818 January 1879) whom he married on 16 January 1861 in 2, Atholl Crescent.This house was occupied by Jane Hope Oliphant (31 July 177324 January 1861), the widow of a former officer of the East India Company. Mrs. Oliphant was rich, judging by the large number of servants she kept (housekeeper, cook, plus two female and two male servants), and generous, judging by her frequent subscriptions to good causes. Isabella's sisters, Margaret Isabel (14 October 182617 July 1879), and Mary Euphemia (5 April 183010 October 1866) were also married from this house. The house was sold for £3,225 in March 1861. Perth, Scotland. Her father was not a soldier, but the Captain of a ship trading in Asia with the permission of the East India Company.
Moncrieff and his brother were in boarding school by the time their father married for the third time. The 1861 Census shows both Moncrieff (15) and his brother John (13) boarding at the Circus Place School in Edinburgh. This was a highly regarded school which prepared pupils for the Edinburgh Academy. Moncrieff went on to attend the Edinburgh Academy and then the University of Edinburgh.
Moncrieff's father died in 1865,The death register says that he died of consumption which he had suffered from for several years four years after his third marriage.Isabella survived him by 14 years. when Moncrieff was 19. Moncrieff wrote nearly fifty years later that his mother had died before he knew her and that: my father also was taken too soon, leaving me precociously independent. Not one of his father's three marriages lasted five years, all ending prematurely with the death of either wife or husband. Moncrieff himself never married.
Writing Before he was out of his teens, Moncrieff had written and made money by a real book.Moncrieff turned 20 in February 1866, so this book must have been published in 1864 or 1865. Oudendale: A story of schoolboy life is the most likely candidate, as the two other works dated for these years are a 24 page pamphlet for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1864 and a book on school life in France in 1865. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (1991, p.259) describes the plot as follows: Charlie Campion, a pupil at Oudendale College, shows 'pluckiness' in standing up to bullies, but gets into bad company; he drinks and smokes, and causes grave anxiety to Dr. Eden the head master. He is rescued by the good effects of Confirmationwhereupon he falls off a cliff and dies a holy death. While he attended the University of Edinburgh he wrote A book about Dominies (1867), Dominies being a term used for schoolmasters in Scotland. This was taken by a publisher, who published it at his own expense with a promise of profit to the author, which proved rather a mirage in the cold light of publishing accounts.Moncrieff never placed another book with that publisher. It was published anonymously with no author's name given. The book was well reviewed and went into several editions. Moncrieff followed this up with A Book About Boys, (1868) adopting his pseudonym Ascott R. Hope for the first time. Moncrieff was ashamed of some of his early books and went to some expense to withdraw them from circulation.
Moncrieff says that he had have made awkward attempts at more than one handicraft, with the view of gathering straw for literary bricks. He was said to have taken up teaching briefly more with the purpose of studying schoolboys and their ways than to making it a profession.
Moncrieff travelled extensively. Even his census returns in the UK show how much he bounced around: 1851Living with his widowed father and two siblings in Perth. 5 years old. 1861At the Circus Place School in Edinburgh with his brother John. 1871An assistant master at Christ College, Brecon in Wales. 1881Boarding at 8, Victoria Grove, in Kensington, London. Profession now is Author. 1891Boarding at Hillside Boarding Lodge in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Profession is Author. The 13th edition of Black's Guide to the Isle of Wight, edited by Moncrieff, was published in 1895. 1901Now 55 years old. Moncrieff was no longer boarding, but was at the head of his own establishment at 85 Munster Road in Fulham, London. No relatives in the house, but the house also holds his 60-year-old housekeeper and her adult daughter. The electoral register show that he was still there in 1907. 1911Only occupant of 5 Chandos Road, Cricklewood, London, apart from a 52-year-old housekeeper. 1927On his death at 81 years-of-age he was living at 16a Addison Gardens, Kensington, London.
Moncrieff not only travelled the whole of Great Britain, but he also travelled internationally. He wrote: It has been by lot to be a good deal about the world from an early age. After a boyish visit to Paris, my travels began with a cruise in the Mediterranean and a stay in Italy, still heaving from Garibaldi's exploits. Moncrieff travelled, and visited four continents. He even tried his hand at farming in Canada, but soon abandoned it. All of his travels contributed not only to the background for his books, but also supported his books on geography and history. Moncrieff suffered from short-sightedness and this led him to favour occupations such as walking and riding. And these leisurely pursuits allowed him to make observations that he made use of when writing on topographical topics.
His study of the geography of the world, The world of to-day : a survey of the lands and peoples of the globe as seen in travel and commerce (1905) took him five years, and was updated every two years or so. Moncrieff wrote every word of the six volumes, bar a single page.
Moncrieff was a member of first the Savile and later of the Athenaeum. He was of a kindly nature and always ready to do good to others, but in a discreet way. He wrote that his work seldom brought him into contact with fellow authors, and that still less had he cultivated what is called smart society. His view of the world's affairs was mainly that of a looker-on. He wrote: I have lived my life in my own way, and that his writing was the sum of his accomplishments.
Death Moncrieff died at Eltham, London, England, on 10 August 1927. He was living at 16a Addison Gardens in Kensington, London at the time. He left an estate valued at £11,482 14s 6d. His half-brother George survived him by 20 years.
Short stories and serials Moncrieff contributed stories to numerous Boy's Papers and Magazines. He has stories in the first issues of the Boy's Own Paper and Union Jack. The following is a very incomplete list, drawn from Steve Holland's British Juvenile Story Papers and Pocket Libraries Index. Some of the stories, like Dick's Dog, later reappeared in books of stories by Moncrieff.
+Serials and short stories in Boy's Papers by Moncrieff No. Order Year Title Journal Pt Illustrator Vol. Iss. Page Length 1 1 1879 18 Jan The Bogle The Boy's Own Paper 1 1 1 7 2 2 25 Jan 2 1 2 27 1 3 2 1879 01 Feb The Black Book The Boy's Own Paper 1 1 3 34 3 4 08 Feb 2 1 4 54 3 5 3 1879 05 Apr At the Masthead The Boy's Own Paper 1 1 12 185 2 6 12 Apr 2 1 13 201 2 7 19 Apr 3 1 14 214 3 8 4 1879 19 Jul Caught Out The Boy's Own Paper 1 1 28 433 2 9 26 Jul 2 1 29 455 2 10 5 1880 01 Jan The Magician's Apprentice; An Old Tale Retold The Union Jack 1 1 1 14 2 11 6 1880 08 Jan The Great Unknown; Or, The Adventures of Robbin, Bobbin, Watkin, And Pippin The Union Jack 1 1 2 30 2 12 15 Jan 2 1 3 46 2 13 22 Jan 3 1 4 61 2 14 29 Jan 4 1 5 78 2 15 7 1880 01 Apr Boots!; Or, The True Hero The Union Jack 1 Horace Petherick 1 14 210 3 16 8 1882 07 Oct The Troubles of a Dominie The Boy's Own Paper 1 5 195 9 2 17 14 Oct 2 5 196 29 1 18 9 1883 28 Jul The Tell-Tale; A School Story The Boy's Own Paper 1 5 237 697 2 19 04 Aug 2 5 238 718 1 20 11 Aug 3 5 239 730 1 21 25 Aug 4 5 241 758 4 22 01 Sep 5 5 242 777 2 23 08 Sep 6 5 243 790 1 24 10 1886 23 Jan Dick's Dog The Boy's Own Paper 1 8 367 252 1 25 30 Jan 2 8 368 281 1 26 11 1886 24 Jul Miss Molly Mick Mac The Boy's Own Paper 1 8 393 681 1 27 31 Jul 2 8 394 692 1 28 12 1886 11 Sep Boby Bounce The Boy's Own Paper 1 8 400 794 1 29 13 1890 06 Sep My Travels in Africa. From a Schoolboy's Journal The Boy's Own Paper 1 12 608 777 2 30 13 Sep 2 12 609 791 2 31 20 Sep 3 12 610 806 1 32 27 Sep 4 12 611 817 2 33 14 1891 10 Oct Well Caught! A Grammar School Story The Boy's Own Paper 1 14 665 25 2 34 15 1892 06 Aug Left Behind. A Story of Holiday Misfortunes The Boy's Own Paper 1 14 708 714 2 35 13 Aug 2 14 709 729 2 36 16 1892 Xmas The Good Old Times The Boy's Own Paper 1 14 Xmas 5 3 37 17 1893 03 Jun The Merry Swiss Boots The Boy's Own Paper 1 15 751 565 2 38 10 Jun 2 15 752 581 2 39 17 Jun 3 15 753 598 2 40 24 Jun 4 15 754 613 2 41 18 1893 Summer The Holiday Tiroler The Boy's Own Paper 1 15 Summer 17 3 42 19 1894 09 Jun The McKickshaws. An Old Boy's Recollections The Boy's Own Paper 1 16 804 561 3 43 16 Jun 2 16 805 577 3 44 23 Jun 3 16 806 593 3 45 30 Jun 4 16 807 609 3 46 07 Jul 5 16 808 625 3 47 14 Jul 6 16 809 642 2 48 20 1894 04 Aug An Adventure with the Apaches The Boy's Own Paper 1 16 812 689 2 49 11 Aug 2 16 813 705 2 50 18 Aug 3 16 814 721 2 51 21 1894 06 Oct Hard Up! A Story of Exmoor The Boy's Own Paper 1 17 821 5 2 52 13 Oct 2 17 822 21 2 53 20 Oct 3 17 823 38 2 54 27 Oct 4 17 824 53 3 55 03 Nov 5 17 825 40 2 56 10 Nov 6 17 826 85 2
Books other than Black's Guides In the semi-autobiographical A Book About Authors (1914) Moncrieff wrote that: For more than forty years I have been an author of all work, what the contemptuous call a hack... His range was very broad and included: School stories for boys Serial stories in boy's papers Translations of works in other languages. Moncrieff says he spent his time when travelling learning other languages and translating works in them. Books about religionincluding martyrdom and religious persecution Entertaining essaysabout being a teacher, about school boys, etc. Encyclopedic and instructional worksabout animals, history, or geography, etc.