Trollope, Anthony (1815–1882)

Although he did not start writing until he was 30 years old, the English novelist Anthony Trollope wrote more than 50 works. While employed as an official at the Post Office, he woke early and wrote for three hours every morning, achieving about a thousand words an hour. His ‘Barsetshire’ novels describe the lives of clergymen, from the richest to the poorest.

English novelist. He described provincial English middle-class society in a series of novels set in or around the imaginary cathedral city of Barchester. The Warden (1855) began the series, which includes Barchester Towers (1857), Doctor Thorne (1858), and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867). His political novels include Can You Forgive Her? (1864), Phineas Finn (1867–69), and The Prime Minister (1875–76).

Trollope was a Londoner, and educated at Harrow. He became a post office clerk in 1834, introduced the pillar box in 1853, and achieved the position of surveyor before retiring in 1867. He went to Ireland at the age of 26 as a junior Post Office official and his first two novels had Irish themes. He tried unsuccessfully to enter Parliament as a Liberal.