H. C. Bailey
Henry Christopher Bailey was an English author of detective fiction.
Life
Bailey was born in London. He studied Classics at Oxford University, earning a B.A. in 1901. Bailey began working as a journalist for The Daily Telegraph, writing war journalism, drama reviews, and editorials for the newspaper.
In 1908, Bailey married Lydia Haden Janet Guest. They had two daughters, Betty Lydia Bennett and Mary Dorothy Bailey.
Bailey retired from writing in 1950, and spent the last years of his life living in North Wales. He died on 24 March 1961, aged 83, in Llanfairfechan. His estate was valued at £14991 7s. 7d., and his widow was the sole heir.
Fiction
Bailey wrote mainly short stories featuring a medically qualified detective called Reggie Fortune. Fortune's mannerisms and speech put him into the same class as Lord Peter Wimsey but the stories are much darker, and often involve murderous obsession, police corruption, financial skulduggery, child abuse and miscarriages of justice. Although Mr Fortune is seen at his best in short stories, he also appears in several novels.
A second series character, Joshua Clunk, is a sanctimonious lawyer who exposes corruption and blackmail in local politics, and who manages to profit from the crimes. He appears in eleven novels published between 1930 and 1950, including The Sullen Sky Mystery, widely regarded as Bailey's magnum opus.
Bailey also wrote historical fiction. His first historical novel, My Lady of Orange revolves around William the Silent, and his involvement in the Dutch Revolt.
Bailey's works were published in a number of magazines, primarily The Windsor Magazine and Adventure and reprinted in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
Works
Romantic and historic fiction
My Lady of Orange. Serialised, Longman's Magazine, December 1900 to May 1901 Karl of Erbach. Serialised as Prince Karl, Longman's Magazine, July 1992 to March 1903The Master of Gray Rimingtons Beaujeu. Serialised, Monthly Review, UNKNOWN MONTH to UNKNOWN MONTH 1905Under Castle Walls, aka Springtime. Serialised as "Springtime", The Idler, April to November 1906Raoul, a Gentleman of Fortune, aka A Gentleman of Fortune: Serialised, Pall Mall Magazine, May to December 1906The God of Clay : Serialised, Pall Mall Magazine, January to December 1907Colonel Stow Storm and Treasure The Lonely Lady The Suburban The Sea Captain Serialized, The Grand Magazine, January to December 1912.; and in Adventure, September 1911 to January 1913The Gentleman Adventurer The Highwayman The Gamesters The Young Lovers The Pillar of Fire Barry Leroy His Serene Highness The Fool ; serialised, Everybody's Magazine, June to September 1921. Historical novel about Henry II of EnglandThe Plot The Rebel Knight at Arms Historical novel set in the time of Charles VIII of FranceThe Golden Fleece The Merchant Prince Bonaventure Judy Bovenden. Serialised, Daily Telegraph, 3 August 1928 to 13 September 1928The Roman Eagles, juvenile
Detective fiction
Call Mr Fortune, short stories collectionMr Fortune's Practice, short stories collectionMr Fortune's Trials, short stories collectionMr Fortune, Please, short stories collectionMr Fortune Speaking, short stories collectionGarstons / The Garston Murder Case Mr Fortune Explains, short stories collectionCase for Mr Fortune, short stories collectionThe Red Castle / The Red Castle Mystery The Man in the Cape Mr Fortune Wonders, short stories collectionShadow on the Wall Mr Fortune Objects, short stories collectionThe Sullen Sky Mystery A Clue for Mr Fortune, short stories collectionBlack Land, White Land Clunk's Claimant / The Twittering Bird Mystery This is Mr Fortune, short stories collectionThe Great Game The Veron Mystery / Mr Clunk's Text Mr Fortune Here, short stories collectionThe Bishop's Crime The Little Captain / Orphan AnnNo Murder / The Apprehensive Dog Dead Man's Shoes / Nobody's Vineyard Mr Fortune Finds a Pig Slippery Ann / The Queen of Spades Dead Man's Effects / The Cat's Whisker The Wrong Man The Life Sentence Honour Among Thieves Saving a Rope / Save a Rope
Other books
Forty Years After with WL Courtney
Other Mr Fortune short stories
See Radio plays and talks alsoTITLE UNKNOWN. Windsor Magazine, December 1931The Thistle Down. The Queen's Book of the Red Cross. Published in Bodies from the Library 5, ed. Tony Medawar.
Uncollected non-series short stories
Dolly and Dick. Longman's Magazine, October 1901The Knight of Mayford. Windsor Magazine, January 1902Sir Albert's Fall. Windsor Magazine, July 1902Dominique. Macmillan's Magazine, November 1902The King's Way. Windsor Magazine, December 1902The Nun of Newstead. Windsor Magazine, December 1903The Torpedo Lieutenant. The Realm, March 1904The Deplorable Princess. The Realm, July 1904The Devil of Marston. Windsor Magazine, July 1904The Anachronism. Pall Mall Magazine, October 1904The Lone Hand. Windsor Magazine, December 1904A Plot in the Duchy. Pall Mall Magazine, January 1905Ercole. Illustrated London News, 1 July 1905Sir Bertram's Tryst. Windsor Magazine, August 1905The Men in Buckram. Windsor Magazine, September 1905Mrs Cromwell's Heart. Windsor Magazine, September 1905The Golden Whistle. The Century, June 1906How He Won His Throne. Pall Mall Magazine, November 1907My Lady's Lord. Pall Mall Magazine, January 1908TITLE UNKNOWN. Windsor Magazine, February 1908Double Sculls. The Strand Magazine, August 1908Hungry Hours. Pall Mall Magazine, December 1908The Lonely Queen. Pall Mall Magazine, July to December 1910The Fairy Prince. Pall Mall Magazine, July 1911Charles Is Engaged. Daily Telegraph, 3 August 1912The Woman Who Cried. Daily Telegraph, 5 August 1912The Hopkins Romance. Pall Mall Magazine, August 1913The Jolly Roger. Adelaide Advertiser, 21 March 1914. Earlier publication not yet tracedThe Bagman, July 1918The Young Folks. The Quiver, July 1919The Child, July 1920The Old Bureau, May 1921The Country Cottage. Grand Magazine, August 1921The Tortoise Sonata. Gaiety, December 1921The Golden Fleece. The Scotsman, 18 December 1926Victoria Pumphrey. Holly Leaves, December 1939 Published in Bodies from the Library 1, ed. Tony Medawar.
Poetry
Spring in Arden. Programme for the matinee performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in aid of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Fund at Stratford on Avon
Theatre plays
Beaujeu by H C Bailey and David Kimball. English Play Society, 23 and 24 May 1909. Adapted from the novel by H C Bailey The White Hawk by H C Bailey and David Kimball. English Play Society, 3 June 1909
Radio plays and talks
Meet Mr Fortune. Meet the Detective. BBC Empire Service. Date unknown.The Only Husband. Plays by Members of the Detection Club, No. 8. BBC National Programme, 14 and 21 June 1941. Published in Bodies from the Library 4, ed. Tony Medawar.
Uncollected non-fiction and journalism
The Pageant of England: I The Coming of Caesar. Pall Mall Magazine, May 1908The Pageant of England: II Alfred the King. Pall Mall Magazine, June 1908 The Pageant of England: III William the Norman. Pall Mall Magazine, July 1908The Pageant of England: IV King John Comes to Heel. Pall Mall Magazine, August 1908The Pageant of England: V The Merry King. Pall Mall Magazine, September 1908The Pageant of England: VI The Angel of Revolution. Pall Mall Magazine, October 1908The Pageant of England: VII TITLE UNKNOWN. Pall Mall Magazine, November 1908Good Form. Daily Telegraph, 30 November 1911The Stage and the Study. Daily Telegraph, 22 April 1916The Air Force: I - The Young Idea. Daily Telegraph, 26 September 1918The Air Force: II - The Wings. Daily Telegraph, 27 September 1918The Air Force: III - The Day's Work. Daily Telegraph, 2 October 1918The Great Advance: From Amiens to Le Cateau. Daily Telegraph, 26 October 1918Out at Last. Daily Telegraph, 22 November 1918German Fleet in the Firth of Forth. Daily Telegraph, 23 November 1918American Sea Power. Daily Telegraph, 16 December 1918Our Armies in Germany I. Daily Telegraph, 8 January 1919Our Armies in Germany II. Daily Telegraph, 9 January 1919Guards' Colours. Daily Telegraph, 11 January 1919Soldiers' Verdict on Cologne. Daily Telegraph, 11 January 1919Shock to Cologne. Daily Telegraph, 13 January 1919Rhine Provinces and United Germany. Daily Telegraph, 14 January 1919Luxembourg. Daily Telegraph, 16 January 1919On the Trail of Revolutions. Daily Telegraph, 17 January 1919Prince of Wales in Cologne. Daily Telegraph, 18 January 1919British Pantomime in Cologne Theatre. Daily Telegraph, 20 January 1919Campaign of 1918. Daily Telegraph, 20 January 1919Castle of Burg. Daily Telegraph, 22 January 1919Election Day in Cologne. Daily Telegraph, 22 January 1919German Elections. Daily Telegraph, 23 January 1919A Visit to Bonn. Daily Telegraph, 24 January 1919Germany's Problems. Daily Telegraph, 27 January 1919British Troops in Brussels. Daily Telegraph, 28 January 1919Jovial Belgians and Whining Germans. Daily Telegraph, 28 January 1919War's Effect in Lille and Douai. Daily Telegraph, 29 January 1919Our Men in Flanders. Daily Telegraph, 30 January 1919Scenes in Lille. Daily Telegraph, 30 January 1919The Last of the Ballets. Daily Telegraph, 14 March 1919Easter in Arden. Daily Telegraph, 24 April 1919Shakespeare Festival. Daily Telegraph, 25 April 1919War and the Theatre. Daily Telegraph, 16 May 1919Stage Heroes. Daily Telegraph, 5 June 1919Joy in the Theatre. Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1919Novels on the Stage. Daily Telegraph, 10 July 1919New York to Norfolk. Daily Telegraph, 14 July 1919The Naval Pageant. Daily Telegraph, 18 July 1919The Day Before. Daily Telegraph, 19 July 1919London's Tribute to Our War Heroes. Daily Telegraph, 21 July 1919Play and Pageant. Daily Telegraph, 24 July 1919Death of Mr Andrew Carnegie. Daily Telegraph, 12 August 1919Shakespeare Repertory I . Daily Telegraph, 27 August 1919Shakespeare Repertory II. Daily Telegraph, 28 August 1919Women Dramatists. Daily Telegraph, 28 August 1919The First Hamlet. Daily Telegraph, 24 September 1919The Coming of Children. Daily Telegraph, 13 December 1919Christmas Time. Daily Telegraph, 20 December 1919Leap Year. Daily Telegraph, 27 December 1919Julius Caesar. Daily Telegraph, 8 January 1920The Future. Daily Telegraph, 10 January 1920The Other Dramatists. Daily Telegraph, 22 January 1920Clothes and the Woman. Daily Telegraph, 31 January 1920Second Thoughts. Daily Telegraph, 7 February 1920Use of the Novel. Daily Telegraph, 13 March 1920King and People at the Cenotaph. Daily Telegraph, 12 November 1920Armistice Day. Daily Telegraph, 17 November 1920The Story of Landru's Trial. Daily Telegraph, 2 December 1921Phenomena of the Seance I. Daily Telegraph, 30 January 1922. Parts II and II were by other writersPageant of Pomp in Westminster Abbey. Daily Telegraph, 1 March 1922Old Clowns and New. Daily Telegraph, 9 November 1922A Fantasy of Finance. Daily Telegraph, 7 December 1922The Ilford Murder. Daily Telegraph, 14 December 1922A New Holiday. Daily Telegraph, 30 June 1923Wilkie Collins. Daily Telegraph, 8 January 1924The Wheel of Fashion. Daily Telegraph, 2 December 1927Incompatible Minds. Daily Telegraph, 11 September 1928Continents of Romance. Daily Telegraph, 6 May 1929Epsom's Endless Magic. Daily Telegraph, 9 June 1929The Elegance of Ascot. Daily Telegraph, 17 June 1929Abbey Service for Earl of Balfour. Daily Telegraph, 24 March 1930Parents and Children. Daily Telegraph, 7 July 1930R101 Memorial Service in St Pauls. Daily Telegraph, 11 October 1930Homilies upon Drink. Daily Telegraph, 8 November 1930A Novelty in Duelling. Daily Telegraph, 15 November 1930Smokers Old and New. Daily Telegraph, 22 November 1930Apologists for Age. Daily Telegraph, 29 November 1930Drinking as a Fine Art. Daily Telegraph, 3 December 1930Two Judges on Perjury. Daily Telegraph, 6 December 1930Truth in the Crowd. Daily Telegraph, 13 December 1930Penalty of Death: Gross Distortions in the Futile Report of the Sentimentalists. Daily Telegraph, 17 December 1930The Christmas Spirit. Daily Telegraph, 20 December 1930New Year's Revels. Daily Telegraph, 27 December 1930Optimism or Despondency. Daily Telegraph, 3 January 1931Coincidence and Destiny. Daily Telegraph, 10 January 1931Men Destined to Crime. Daily Telegraph, 13 January 1931Art of Gormandise. Daily Telegraph, 17 January 1931On Living for Ever. Daily Telegraph, 24 January 1931Marriage down the Ages. Daily Telegraph, 31 January 1931Trouble with Our Names. Daily Telegraph, 7 February 1931Companion of Witches. Daily Telegraph, 12 February 1931Men's Stories for Women. Daily Telegraph, 14 February 1931Holmes and His 'Dear Watson. Daily Telegraph, 21 February 1931The Slavery of Tobacco. Daily Telegraph, 28 February 1931A Dream of the 'Fifties. Daily Telegraph, 7 March 1931The English Character. Daily Telegraph, 14 March 1931Morals and the Censor. Daily Telegraph, 21 March 1931The Mortality of Literary Fame. Daily Telegraph, 28 March 1931Diplomacy as Practised down the Ages. Daily Telegraph, 4 April 1931Portraits in Novels. Daily Telegraph, 11 April 1931Food and Feasting through the Ages. Daily Telegraph, 18 April 1931The Danger of Leisure. Daily Telegraph, 25 April 1931New Electric Age. Daily Telegraph, 2 May 1931Behind Our Dreams. Daily Telegraph, 9 May 1931Value of the 'Varsities. Daily Telegraph, 16 May 1931Lovely Womanhood through the Ages. Daily Telegraph, 23 May 1931Saint Joan of Arc. Daily Telegraph, 26 May 1931Are We English Human?. Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1931Looking Far Ahead. Daily Telegraph, 6 June 1931Going Down: The Choice of Careers. Daily Telegraph, 13 June 1931The Londoner's Spirit. Daily Telegraph, 20 June 1931The Victorian Father. Daily Telegraph, 27 June 1931The Art of Eating. Daily Telegraph, 4 July 1931Our Conversation. Daily Telegraph, 11 July 1931Love and Science. Daily Telegraph, 18 July 1931Good Haters. Daily Telegraph, 25 July 1931Our Crowded Holidays. Daily Telegraph, 1 August 1931Happy, though Modern. Daily Telegraph, 12 September 1931On Choice of Wines. Daily Telegraph, 19 September 1931Return of the Periwig. Daily Telegraph, 26 September 1931Ourselves in Duplicate. Daily Telegraph, 3 October 1931Mystery Man of Science. Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1931Liberties of the Pulpit. Daily Telegraph, 17 October 1931The Decline of Lunch. Daily Telegraph, 24 October 1931Legends of the Beard. Daily Telegraph, 31 October 1931Food in Books. Daily Telegraph, 7 November 1931More Marriage Theories. Daily Telegraph, 14 November 1931Gentle Shocking of Our Forefathers. Daily Telegraph, 21 November 1931The Castaway. Daily Telegraph, 23 November 1931Cowper's Misery. Daily Telegraph, 26 November 1931Marriage a la Mode. Daily Telegraph, 28 November 1931The Wassail Bowl. Daily Telegraph, 5 December 1931Christmas Pleasures. Daily Telegraph, 12 December 1931Children as Sightseers. Daily Telegraph, 19 December 1931New Year Resolutions. Daily Telegraph, 2 January 1932Exhibition Humbug. Daily Telegraph, 9 January 1932Short Men and Tall Men. Daily Telegraph, 16 January 1932Degradation of Wives. Daily Telegraph, 23 January 1932Lewis Carroll and His Immortal Alice. Daily Telegraph, 27 January 1932Prizes Won at School. Daily Telegraph, 6 February 1932Family Inquisition Myths. Daily Telegraph, 20 February 1932Daily Telegraph Literary Prize No 6 Result. Daily Telegraph, 23 February 1932Leap Day Tradition. Daily Telegraph, 27 February 1932That Cockney Conceit. Daily Telegraph, 5 March 1932That House of Our Dreams. Daily Telegraph, 12 March 1932Coaxing back a British Appetite. Daily Telegraph, 19 March 1932Thieves' Slang in fact and Fiction. Daily Telegraph, 26 March 1932Is Youth Overdoing the Cult of Sport. Daily Telegraph, 2 April 1932The Luck of the Sexes. Daily Telegraph, 9 April 1932Cigarette Smoking. Daily Telegraph, 16 April 1932State-Nursed Britain. Daily Telegraph, 7 May 1932When Mischief Comes to Children. Daily Telegraph, 16 May 1932The Beauty of Britain. Daily Telegraph, 26 May 1932Last Few Survivals of Snobbery. Daily Telegraph, 28 May 1932Scenes That Linger in the Memory. Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1932Who Shall Arrange Our Private Budgets?. Daily Telegraph, 4 June 1932Speeding up Travelling. Daily Telegraph, 11 June 1932Holidays in August. Daily Telegraph, 18 June 1932On Hiking and Hikers. Daily Telegraph, 21 June 1932When the Sparkle Went into Champagne. Daily Telegraph, 25 June 1932Sorcery Still Lives. Daily Telegraph, 2 July 1932Team Games for Girls. Daily Telegraph, 9 July 1932Modern Family Life Relies on Freedom. Daily Telegraph, 16 July 1932The Evil of Our School Examinations. Daily Telegraph, 23 July 1932Our Holiday Haunts. Daily Telegraph, 2 August 1932Is Pure English Doomed?. Daily Telegraph, 6 August 1932. Reprinted as The Future of English. New York Times, 28 August 1932The School Certificate. Daily Telegraph, 15 October 1932Why Britain is Paying £19,750,000 to US today. Daily Telegraph, 15 December 1932Professor Saintsbury, the Critic. Daily Telegraph, 30 January 1933Is This Age Soft?. Daily Telegraph, 14 September 1933Star Spangled Sportsman. Daily Telegraph, 18 September 1933A City's Revolution in Poor Law Relief. Daily Telegraph, 22 May 1934The Germans' Tribal God: Reverence for Hindenburg as Exemplar of Their Race and Nation. Daily Telegraph, 3 August 1934Parliaments of the Past and the India Problem. Daily Telegraph, 19 October 1934Remodelling the French Republic. Daily Telegraph, 29 October 1934Saarlanders at the Poll. Daily Telegraph, 14 January 1935How the Nation's Unity Was Eclipsed at St Paul's. Daily Telegraph, 7 May 1935When Mr Haig Thought Mr Lloyd George 'Ungentlemanly. Daily Telegraph, 3 October 1935Thirty Years the Guide of British Socialism. Daily Telegraph, 21 October 1935Four Years of Parliament. Daily Telegraph, 26 October 1935Change in London's Sunday. Daily Telegraph, 1 November 1935Election Time in Fiction. Daily Telegraph, 16 November 1935Mark Twain: America's Best Loved Humorist. Daily Telegraph, 30 November 1935Kipling, Imperial Poet the World Acclaimed. Daily Telegraph, 18 January 1936Power of the Crown Today. Daily Telegraph, 23 January 1936Mr Lloyd George's War-Strained Mood. Daily Telegraph, 24 September 1936Sir James Barrie as Genius, Man and Friend. Daily Telegraph, 21 June 1937Can Britain Save Its Countryside. Daily Telegraph, 20 August 1938Hitler's Grim Six-Year Record in Technique and Perfidy. Daily Telegraph, 4 September 1939. Reprinted as Hitler's Record of Perfidy. The Times of India, 21 September 1939Britain Has Always Fought Europe's Ambitious Despots. Daily Telegraph, 9 September 1939These Men Set Reason at Defiance to Launch a War. Daily Telegraph, 23 September 1939No Scheming by Germany Will Defeat the Allied Blockade. Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1939 Germany is the Next Great Objective. Daily Telegraph, 18 October 1939Resources of Empire will be Massed to Our Final Victory. Daily Telegraph, 26 October 1939Absent Businesses are Slowing down the Economic Machine. Daily Telegraph, 9 November 1939Foch Was Unrelenting Till Germany's Envoys Sued for Peace. Daily Telegraph, 11 November 1939Should We Have a Super-Minister of Economics?. Daily Telegraph, 7 February 1940Strategy of Britain's New Overseas Trade Drive. Daily Telegraph, 6 March 1940Peril of Isolation Is Realised by Europe's Neutrals Now. Daily Telegraph, 15 March 1940Hitler Has Forfeited High Stakes in Norway Campaign. Daily Telegraph, 6 May 1940Sea Power Will Always Decide a Mediterannean War. Daily Telegraph, 5 June 1940Desert and Sea have Always Saved Egypt from Conquest. Daily Telegraph, 19 August 1940Mr Churchill at 66: 'Vehement, High and Daring'. Daily Telegraph, 30 November 1940Soldier, Scout and Law Giver to the World's Youth. Daily Telegraph, 9 January 1941The Kaiser Sacrificed Both People and Throne. Daily Telegraph, 5 June 1941Middle of the Nation . Daily Telegraph, 11 July 1941Prince's Life of Service for Crown and Commonwealth. Daily Telegraph, 17 January 19421918: The Germans Must See 1944 Ominous Portents. Daily Telegraph, 22 July 1944In Antwerp, Germany Has Lost a Valuable Stronghold. Daily Telegraph, 6 September 1944Germany Struck down through an Earlier Siegfried Line. Daily Telegraph, 8 September 1944Six Years of Ordeal to Win the World's Freedom. Daily Telegraph, 8 May 1945The Left Was Never Right on Pre-War Defence Policy. Daily Telegraph, 1 June 1945Socialist Party's Black Record between the Wars. Daily Telegraph, 8 June 1945Releasing the Mighty Forces Locked up in the Atom. Daily Telegraph, 8 August 1945. Reprinted: Union Jack, 16 August 1945, as The Atom Is Indeed MightyConservatives in Council. Daily Telegraph, 28 November 1945The King's Fiftieth Birthday. Daily Telegraph, 14 December 1945Britain's Most Wonderful Year. Daily Telegraph, 31 December 1945Greatest Seaborne Invasion in History. Daily Telegraph, 11 January 1946
Letters to the press
Tram Memories. Daily Telegraph, 30 June 1952