William Caine (28 August 1873 – 2 September 1925)The image of Caine’s tombstone available at findagrave.com shows that Caine died September 5, 1925. This date is incorrect, since the earliest reports of Caine’s death were published on Friday, September 4, 1925, with several (e.g., The Birmingham Post, The Irish Times, The Times (London), Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Western Mail) stating that he died on Tuesday, that is, September 1, 1925. This is the date given in Who’s Who, 1926 (p. xxx), and The Balliol College Register (2nd edition, 1934, p. 206). However, at least three reports in the Belgian press (Het Nieuws van den Haag, 4 September 1925, p. 2; Het Volk, 4 September 1925, p. 2; Gazet van Antwerpen, 5 September 1925, p. 3) state that Caine died on “Wednesday afternoon” (Woensdag namiddag), that is, September 2, 1925; see Michael Sean Strickland, The Author of The Author of “Trixie,” Appendix I: Caine’s Obituaries. was a British author of stories and humorous novels.

Biography He was born in Liverpool, the son of politician William Sproston Caine and Alice Brown Caine, daughter of the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown. He was educated at Manor House School in Clapham, Westminster School, St Andrews University and Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating from Oxford he worked as a barrister, but after seven years abandoned that profession for writing. He married harpist Edith Gordon Walker,Wellesley College News, October 2, 1907, pp. 5–6. daughter of Farmer R. Walker of Boston, Massachusetts, and they lived at 16 The Pryors, East Heath Road, London NW3. He was a member of the Reform Club.Who Was Who, vol. II, p. 162.

Caine was a keen angler, friendly with fellow angler-author Hugh Tempest Sheringham (1876-1930),They both appear in Eric Parker's anthology An Angler's Garland (1920) and an artist, cartoonist and illustrator, friendly with and influenced by the younger cartoonist H. M. Bateman. Bateman often included caricatures of Caine in his published drawings,Anthony Anderson. The Man Who Was H.M. Bateman (1982), pp. 84-88 and provided the illustrations for Bildad the Quill-Driver (1916) and the posthumous What a Scream!. The Glutton's Mirror (1925) and Smoke Rings (1926) are collections of Caine's own caricatures and burlesques.'William Caine', The Medlar Press Caine had a heart condition and died suddenly in Ostend, Belgium while on holiday with his wife.'Mr William Caine', in The Times, 4 September 1925, p. 15

Books Caine was best known in his lifetime for his magazine and newspaper articles and short stories, published regularly in Pearsons, The Field, Punch, The Evening Standard and The Morning Post. His books span the genres of light comedy, romance, social issues, adventure and travel.

The Times Literary Supplement described the title character of Caine’s first novel Pilkington as “a kind of legal ‘Verdant Green.’ He comes up, a simple-minded prig, from Cambridge, and falls into the hands of friends in ‘the honourable Society of the Outer Temple,’ who show a real creative genius in playing off practical jokes upon him. They, and the reader, have much entertainment; but Pilkington ‘gets home’ in the end.”“List of New Books and Reprints; Fiction.” Times Literary Supplement, Friday, March 2, 1906, p. 76. His second novel, The Confectioners (1906, with John Fairbairn), was described by the Times Literary Supplement as “a rollicking and original tale of the great factory of Simon Muddock, where all the wants of man were met by chemical preparations; of its overthrow by the discovery of ‘Gruntleite,’ the universal producer, with a surprising sequel.”“List of New Books and Reprints; Fiction.” Times Literary Supplement, Friday, December 7, 1906, p. 411.

Caine’s next two novels, The Pursuit of the President (1907) and The Victim & The Votery (1908), both take the suffragette cause as material for satire and comedy. The former “is a rollicking account of the efforts of Miss Waugh, a Suffragette leader, to interview a member of the Cabinet”;“Our Booking Office.” Punch, or the London Charivari, vol. 132, June 26, 1907, p. 464 “it is laughter-provoking from the first page to the last, with here and there a dash of caustic, penetrating criticism, which shows that the author is capable of a good deal more than mere buffoonery.”“Books in Brief, Fiction.” Pall Mall Gazette, Saturday, June 8, 1907, p. 4. The latter, in which democratic hopes have given way to disillusionment and extremism, “tells of the efforts of a particularly virulent suffragette to kidnap the Prime Minister in a way that moves to laughter on every page.”“Literature; Short Notices.” The Northern Whig (Belfast), Saturday, September 26, 1908, p. 10.The Victim and the Voter, Mary Evans Picture Library His fifth book, Boom! (1909), sold well, running into six editions.

Hoffman's Chance (1912) is about the birth and death of a would-be comic opera.The Bookman, Vol. 43 (1913), p. 196 For source material Caine drew on his own experiences of working with composer Osborne Roberts, brother of John Roberts, 1st Baron Clwyd, on The Island of Pharos, a comic opera which was produced by amateurs for charity at Chelsea Town Hall, London, May 18–20, 1904, before touring professionally in July and August.“Personau a Phethau,” Yr Herald Cymraeg, Tuesday, May 10, 1904, p. 5: “Mae Mr Osborne Roberts, brawd Mr J. Herbert Roberts, A.S., a’i gyfaill, Mr William Caine, mab y diweddar Mr W. S. Caine, A.S., wedi cyd-gyfansoddi opera. Chwareuir hi ya Chelsea yr wythnos hon, er budd rhyw amcan elusenol.” (Translation: Mr Osborne Roberts, brother of Mr J. Herbert Roberts, M.P., and his friend, Mr William Caine, son of the late Mr W. S. Caine, M.P., have jointly composed an opera. It will be played at Chelsea this week, in aid of some charitable cause.)Kurt Gänzl, The British Musical Theatre. Volume I, 1865–1914. Basingstoke: Macmillan, p. 885.See also Opening Night: Opera & Oratorio PremieresPhilip L Scowcroft: 'A 203rd Garland of British Light Music Composers' He also wrote some lyrics for the successful 1906 musical comedy The Belle of Mayfair.'The Secret of the Novelist's Workshop', in The Graphic, 23 November 1912The Belle of Mayfair, British Musical Theatre

Bildad the Quill-Driver (1916) includes elements of Arabian fantasy. The Strangeness of Noel Carton (1921) is a psychological thriller told in journal form, with a striking book jacket by Salomon van Abbé.'William Caine, The Strangeness of Noel Carton', Straight Jackets The Author of Trixie (1924), a tale of mis-represented authorship, was later highlighted by Vladimir Nabokov in his 1941 novel The Real Life of Sebastian Knight as one of the books on the shelves of the fictional author Sebastian Knight.D. Barton Johnson. 'Nabokov’s “Real Life of Sebastian Knight” and William Caine’s “The Author of ‘Trixie’', The Nabokovian (2018) Lady Sheba's Last Stunt (1925) relates the unintended consequences of a scandalous memoir.'New Fiction', The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 April 1925, p. 12

Publications

References

External links

William Caine - The Medlar Press The Pensioner, short story read by Susannah Bond The Strangeness of Noel Carton, dust jacket by C Morse (aka Salomon Van Abbe)