The coming of war in 1914 saw Arthur return to the public eye with ‘The Bowmen’ and the publicity surrounding the 'Angels of Mons' episode. In February 1912 his son Hilary was born, and a daughter Janet in 1917. By 1910 Arthur accepted a full-time journalist's job at Alfred Harmsworth's Evening News. In 1906 Machen's literary career began once more as the book ‘The House of Souls’ collected his most notable works of the nineties and brought them to a new audience. Arthur married Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston, in 1902, a happy and sustaining union. In 1902 Arthur managed to find a publisher in 1902 for ‘Hieroglyphics’, an analysis of the nature of literature, which concluded that true literature must convey 'ecstasy'. By 1901 he was a member of Frank Benson's company of travelling players which took him around the country. His recovery was helped by his a change of career to acting. In 1899, Amelia died of cancer after a long period of illness. It was published in 1894 was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and of course sold extremely well.

This led to his first major success, ‘The Great God Pan’. Soon after the marriage, Arthur began to receive a series of legacies from Scottish relatives that allowed him to devote more time to writing.Īround 1890 Arthur began to publish in literary magazine. In 1887, the year his father died, Arthur married Amelia Hogg, an unconventional music teacher with a passion for the theatre. This led to further work as a translator from French. By 1884 he published his second work, ‘The Anatomy of Tobacco’, and worked with the publisher and bookseller George Redway. Arthur, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem 'Eleusinia.' In London, he lived in relative poverty, attempting to work as a journalist, as a publisher's clerk, and as a children's tutor while writing in the evening and going on long rambling walks across London. However family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Arthur was sent to London to sit exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. An early and avid reader, Arthur read books far beyond his years the results of which ensured a firm foundation in literature.Īt eleven, Arthur boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. Later he shortened it to Arthur Machen, as a pen name. His father had adopted his wife's maiden name, Machen, to inherit a legacy, legally becoming 'Jones-Machen' his son was baptised under that name. Arthur Llewelyn Jones was born on March 3rd, 1863 in Carleleon in Monmouthshire, Wales.

Arthur machen the three imposters