Fred M. White


Fred Merrick White wrote a number of novels and short stories under the name "Fred M. White" including the six "Doom of London" science-fiction stories, in which various catastrophes beset London. These include The Four Days' Night, in which London is beset by a massive killer smog; The Dust of Death, in which diphtheria infects the city, spreading from refuse tips and sewers; and The Four White Days, in which a sudden and deep winter paralyses the city under snow and ice. These six stories all first appeared in Pearson's Magazine, and were illustrated by Warwick Goble. He was also a pioneer of the spy story, and in 2003, his series The Romance of the Secret Service Fund was edited by Douglas G. Greene and published by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box.

Life

Fred Merrick White was born in 1859 in West Bromwich, a small town near Birmingham, England. The record of his birth indicates that he was born in the June quarter and that his first name was actually "Fred" — not, as is often assumed, "Frederick". His second name, "Merrick", was the maiden name of his mother, Helen, who married his father, Joseph, in West Bromwich in the September quarter of 1858.
At the time of the 1861 census Joseph and Helen White were living with their son at 18 Carters Green, West Bromwich. The census record gives Joseph's occupation as "solicitor's managing clerk." Ten years later the family was living in Hereford, a county town in West England.
Before becoming a full-time writer, White followed in his father's footsteps, working as a solicitor's clerk in Hereford. By the time of the 1881 census, Joseph White, Sr., was a fully-fledged solicitor and was now quite prosperous. In 1891 White was working full-time as a journalist and author, presumably earning enough to support himself and his mother, Helen, who, in the census record for that year figures as the head of the household in the Barton Road villa. In the June quarter of the following year, 1892, White married Clara Jane Smith. The wedding took place at King's Norton, Worcestershire, and the couple had two children.
In the 1911 census, Fred M. White, aged 52, and his wife Clara were living at Uckfield, a town in East Sussex. During the First World War, White's sons served as junior officers in The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. In November 1915 the elder boy, Sydney Eric, was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant.
The First World War and his sons' war-time experiences evidently influenced White's writing during and after this conflict. His novel 'The Seed of Empire' describes some of the early trench warfare in great detail and the places and events are historically accurate. A number of novels published in the 1920s concern the social changes caused by the war and the difficulties of ex-soldiers in fitting back into normal civilian life.
Fred and Clara spent their final years in Barnstaple in the County of Devon, an area which provided the backdrop for his novels The Mystery of Crocksands, The Riddle of the Rail and The Shadow of the Dead Hand. White died in Barnstaple in December 1935, his wife, Clara Jane, died in March 1940.

Works

Short fiction

The following items are from the list published by Roy Glashan.

Short story series

1. The Doom of London
  • "The Four Days' Night"
  • "The Dust of Death"
  • "The Four White Days"
  • "The Invisible Force"
  • "The River of Death"
  • "A Bubble Burst"
2. The Romance of the Secret Service Fund
  • "By Woman's Wit"
  • "The Mazaroff Rifle "
  • "In the Express"
  • "The Almedi Concession"
  • "The Other Side of the Chessboard"
  • "Three of Them"
3. The Master Criminal
  • "The Head of the Caesars"
  • "At Windsor"
  • "The Silverpool Cup"
  • "The 'Morrison Raid' Indemnity"
  • "Cleopatra's Robe"
  • "The Rosy Cross"
  • "The Death of the President"
  • "The Cradlestone Oil Mills"
  • "Redburn Castle"
  • "Crysoline Limited"
  • "The Loss Of The 'Eastern Empress'"
  • "General Marcos"
4. Real Dramas
  • "His Second Self"
  • "An Extra Turn"
  • ""Not in the Bill""
  • "The Plagiarist"
  • "The Man in Possession"
  • "A Pair of Handcuffs"
5. The Dragon Fly
  • "How Horace Daimler Got His Name"
  • "The Three Red Hats"
  • "A Cloud of Butterflies"
  • "The Three Alarm Clocks"
  • "A Reconstructed Crime"
  • "The Mirror Over the Fireplace"
6. The Adventures of Drenton Denn, Special Commissioner
  • "The Red Speck"
  • "The Yellow Moth"
  • "Dust"
  • "The Fire Bugs"
  • "The Great White Moth"
7. "Gipsy" Tales
  • "A Matter of Kindness"
  • "A Liberal Education"
  • "A Stranger in Bohemia"
  • "Drops of Water"
  • "The Unpremeditated Curtain"
  • "Mere Details"
  • "Out of Season"
8. "The Last of the Borgias"
  • "The Scrip of Death"
  • "The Crimson Streak"
  • "The Holy Rose"
  • "The Saving of Serena"
  • "The Varteg Necklace"
  • "The Three Carnations"
9. The "Gentle Buccaneer" Stories
  • "Beauty in Distress"
  • "The Grey Raider"
  • "The Shifting Sand"
10. "The Sage of Tyburn" Stories
  • "The Chronicle of the Yellow Girl"
  • "The Chronicle of the BlueEyed Syndicate"
  • "The Chronicle of the Inconsequent Princess"
  • "The Chronicle of the Elderly Adonis"
  • "The Chronicle of the Libelled Velasquez"
  • "The Chronicle of the Compleat Letter-Writer"

Other uncollected short stories

  • "The Hospitallers"
  • "A Bad Cold"
  • "Found!"
  • "Forget-Me-Not"
  • "A Message from the Flood"
  • "Burglar Bill's Pupil"
  • "More Than Coronets"
  • "An Eastern Princess"
  • "Santa Anna"
  • "The Azoff Diamonds"
  • "The Purple Terror"
  • "The Joinville Tunnel"
  • "Compounding a Felony"
  • "Moray the Traitor"
  • "The Emsdam Dispatches"
  • "The White Geranium"
  • "A Satisfactory Reference"
  • "The Throat of the Wolf"
  • "A Foster-Father"
  • "The Black Narcissus"
  • "One Day with a Working Ant"
  • "Pictures in the Snow"
  • "One of the Old Guard"
  • "An Unrecorded Crime"
  • "The Dormer Window"
  • "The Shebeeners"
  • "This Little World"
  • "Blind"
  • "Hardy's Big Coup"
  • "The Black Cat"
  • "The Orpheusia"
  • "The Heart of an Anarchist"
  • "A Stolen Interview"
  • "A Game of Draughts"
  • "Red Petals"
  • "By Grace of His Majesty"
  • "Aunt Mary"
  • "The Northern Light"
  • "The Other Man's Story"
  • "Unbidden Guests"
  • "The Doubting D-, or, A Cranky Cryptogram"
  • "Dust"
  • "Two of Them"
  • "A Table Tragedy"
  • "The Night Express"
  • "A Friendly Call"
  • "'Special' to the Telephone"
  • "The Law Of The Jungle. A Tale of Mean Streets"
  • "Natural Selection"
  • "My Lady Bountiful"
  • "The Charlatan"
  • "The Last Drive"
  • "The Onus Of The Charge"
  • "The Two Bon-Bons"
  • "The Midnight Call"
  • "The Stranger Within the Gate"
  • "In the Dark"
  • "In the Mine"
  • "The Buff Gauntlet"
  • "The Luck of the Game"
  • "The Balance of Nature"
  • "The Black Admiral"
  • "The Guiding Star"
  • "Treasures Three"
  • "Crossed Swords"
  • "For Value Received"
  • "The White Spot"
  • "The Kingmaker's Token"
  • "A Block of Marble"
  • "A Masked Battery"
  • "An Object Lesson"
  • "An Error of Judgment"
  • "The First Stone"
  • "The Sword of Justice"
  • "The Eye of the Camera"
  • "Her Christmas Dawn"
  • "At Short Notice"
  • "The Clock Struck Twelve"
  • "Ice in June"
  • "The Heels of the Dawn"
  • "The Language of Flowers"
  • "The Unexpected"
  • "The Ebbing Tide"
  • "The Empty House"
  • "The Path of Progress"
  • "The Thirty-Seventh Month"
  • "The Man with the Eye-Glass"
  • "Applied Mechanics"
  • "The Colonel's Christmas Pudding"
  • "In the Fog"
  • "After Reynolds"
  • "A Record Round"
  • "The Better Way"
  • "The Salmon Poachers"
  • "In Black and White"
  • "Sub Rosa"
  • "The Substitute"
  • "The Ticket"
  • "The Waterwitch"
  • "His Majesty's Mails"
  • "A Modern Scrooge"
  • "Nerves"
  • "The Desert Ship"
  • "Lady Mary's Bulldog"
  • "The Half-Crown Princess"
  • ""To Be Let Furnished""
  • "The Missing Note"
  • "The Pardon"
  • "The Sixteenth Chapter"
  • "A Broken Sceptre"
  • "The Evidence for the Prisoner"
  • "Art Critics"
  • "The Livery of Death"
  • "A Derelict in Clover"
  • "A Christmas Bride"
  • "A Rope Of Snow"
  • "The Royal Train"
  • "The Lesson the Ants Taught"
  • "Imperial Preference"
  • "A Sleeping Partner"
  • "The Eavesdropper"
  • "Merica"
  • "A Gamble in Love"
  • "The Hand Invisible"
  • "The Ace of Hearts"
  • "Ostentation"
  • "Autumn Manouevres"
  • "The Left Hand"
  • "Kindergarten"
  • "The Third Act"
  • "The Vital Spot"
  • "The Western Way"
  • "Judgment Reserved"
  • "Anonymous"
  • "Karma"
  • "The Missing Blade"
  • "Pearls of Price"
  • "Gentlemen of the Jury"
  • "The Straight Game"
  • "In the Pit"
  • "According to the Statute"
  • "Denny"
  • "Full Fathoms Deep"
  • "For Once in a Way"
  • "In Rosemary Lane"
  • "Second in the Field"
  • "Sister Louise"
  • "A Corner in Elephants"
  • "The Apple-Green Plate"
  • "Billy's Christmas"
  • "The Long Arm of Bronze"
  • "A Question of Money"
  • "The Second Chapter"
  • "A Thrilling Exit"
  • "A Deal in Diamonds"
  • "One Foggy Night"
  • "Love in Aether"
  • "A Bit of Egypt"
  • "The Grey Bat"
  • "A Single Hair"
  • "The World Next Door"
  • "The Black Prince"
  • "The Fourth Man"
  • "Photo by Lesterre"
  • "A Garden of Pearls"
  • "The Dawnstar"
  • "A Dose of Quinine"
  • "The Superman"
  • "Below Zero"
  • "A Matter of Habit"
  • "Blind Chance"
  • "The Case for the Prisoner"
  • "The Real Dramatic Touch"
  • "The Lonely Furrow"
  • "A Call on the Phone"
  • "A Christmas Deputy"
  • "A Draught of Life"
  • "Sleeping Partner"
  • "A Parrot-Cry"
  • "The Arms of Chance"
  • "The Convict"
  • "A Plague of Butterflies"
  • "The Big Thing"
  • "The Witness of the Skies"
  • "Beauty in Distress"
  • "The Shifting Sands"
  • "The Grey Raider"
  • "Coralie and the Pearls"
  • "From Information Received"
  • "A Place in the Sun"
  • "The Witness"
  • "The Broken Trail"
  • "Gabrielle"
  • "Made in England"
  • "An Ally"
  • "Rose of the Desert"
  • "The Mystery of Room Five"
  • "Not on the Records"
  • "The Broken Lute"
  • "The Man Himself"
  • "Saviour From The North"
  • "The Master's Voice"
  • "The Mistletoe Bough"
  • "Poste Restante"
  • "The Gates of Ramshi"
  • "The Vital Spark"
  • "Rob Peter—Pay Paul"
  • "Rachel's Seventh Year"
  • "The Dancing Shadow"
  • "The Daughters of the Moon"
  • "Music Hath Charms"
  • "By Wireless"
  • "White Wings"
  • "Excess Profits"
  • "A Musical Treat"
  • "A Hole in the Net"
  • "Introducing Mr. Pentsymon"
  • "A Christmas Capture"
  • "The Wings of Chance"
  • "An Eye for an Eye"
  • "Heavy Metal"
  • "The Supreme Test"
  • "Sir Jeremiah's Big Shoot"
  • "The Odds On Zero"
  • "The Morning Glory"
  • "A Royal Bag"
  • "Early-Closing Day"
  • "The Blindworm"
  • "A Prize Crop"
  • "The Man Who Rang the Bell"
  • "When the Moon Set"
  • "The Man Who Got Through"
  • "A Bootless Errand"
  • "In Barkstone Lane"
  • "Big Fish"
  • "A Christmas in Peril"
  • "A Crowning Christmas"
  • "The Egg of the Little Auk"
  • "Proof Positive"
  • "Alias 'James Jones'"
  • "Icky Of Oluk Lake"
  • "On Peace Night"
  • "The Leather-Pushin' Private"
  • "A Dog's Life"
  • "War Ribbons"
  • "His Christmas Gift"
  • "Rawhide Science"
  • "A Daughter of Nature"
  • "And This Is Fame"
  • "The Foil"
  • "A Christmas Star"
  • "The Platinum Chain"
  • "Christmas Cards"
  • "A Queen in Hiding"
  • "The Christmas Carol"
  • "The Barrister at Bay"
  • "Adventure"
  • "The Doll's House"
  • "A Sound in the Night"
  • "Brayton's Secret"
  • "Free Labour"
  • "For Love's Sake"
  • "One Christmas Eve"
  • "The Pawn and the Rook"
  • "A Popular Novelist"

Uncertain date

  • The Altar of Sacrifice
  • Amaryllis in Mayfair
  • A Bid for Fortune
  • Blind Luck
  • A Christmas Guest
  • A Christmas Number
  • Cui Bono
  • Europe Limited
  • The Evolution Of Species
  • A Friendly Lead
  • From Out The Past
  • The Gods Of Chance
  • A Good Likeness
  • The Heartstone
  • Hero Worship
  • Hide And Seek
  • An Honoured Guest
  • The King Of The Poachers
  • The King's Pavilion
  • The Last Gasp
  • Leaves From A Log Book
  • The Legend Of The Big Boot
  • The Lord's Anointed
  • The Luck Of The Hawkes
  • A Man Who Goes To His Club
  • Marked Cards
  • The Millionaire Who Begged
  • A Morning Call
  • The Mother-In-Law
  • My Lady's Diamonds
  • Nearly Lost
  • Number 89276
  • The Obvious Way
  • On The Off Chance
  • The Pensioner
  • A Perfect Treasure
  • The Picture Of The Year
  • A Question Of Degree
  • A Real Queen
  • Red Ruin
  • The Secretaire
  • The Slave Of The Lamp
  • The Spur Of The Moment
  • The Strike Of '7
  • A Stronger Suit
  • The Things That Might Be
  • A Touch Of Nature
  • The Triumph Of Democracy
  • The Two Spaniards
  • The Very Newest Journalism
  • The White Terror
  • White Wine
  • Who Killed James Trent
  • The Woman And Her Way
  • The Courage Of Despair
  • ''A Captious Critic''