Anthony Trollope: A Short Biography

Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful English novelists of the Victorian era. Though his prestige and popularity slacked in his later career, his novels have again received attention in the mid-twentieth century. He wrote forty-seven novels including The Way We Live Now, Rachel Ray and The Warden.

Anthony Trollope was born the son of a London barrister. His father's business dealings brought the family's economic condition into increasingly worse conditions. Anthony attended private school as a child, but moved to public school to save on expenses. Anthony's mother, Frances Trollope traveled to Cincinnati in 1827 to open a bazaar. The venture proved unsuccessful and she returned to England four years later. Anthony remained in England during this period. Frances Trollope began to find success as a writer, though Anthony's father's position continued to decline, moving the family to Bruges (Now in Belgium) to avoid being arrested for debt.

Anthony Trollope found a job with the postal service in London and returned in England in 1834. In 1841 Trollope took an opportunity to become a postal surveyor's clerk in Ireland. He found the job and his economic situation preferable in Ireland. He met his future wife, Rose Heseltine, a year later. They married in 1844.

Anthony Trollope set out to be a novelist in a very serious way. He had very specific schedules and quotas for his writing and became one of the most prolific writers in English literature. However, critics looked down on his prolific output, writing quotas and the admission in his autobiography that his purpose in writing was to make money.

Anthony Trollope spent the last years of his life in rural England. He died in London in 1882.

Click here for my review of The Way We Live Now

Anthony Trollop Biography. Victorian Web. 2000. Web. 31 March 2012.