J D Beresford

John Davys Beresford was an English writer best known for his early science fiction and short stories in the horror and ghost story genres. Beresford was a huge fan of H.G. Wells and produced the first critical analysis of him in 1915. His Wellsian work The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911) had a significant influence on the author Olaf Stapledon. His other science-fiction novels include The Riddle of the Tower, which depicts a dystopian, hive-like civilization. His father, John James Beresford (1821...See more

John Davys Beresford was an English writer best known for his early science fiction and short stories in the horror and ghost story genres. Beresford was a huge fan of H.G. Wells and produced the first critical analysis of him in 1915. His Wellsian work The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911) had a significant influence on the author Olaf Stapledon. His other science-fiction novels include The Riddle of the Tower, which depicts a dystopian, hive-like civilization. His father, John James Beresford (1821 1897), was a minister in Castor, which is now in Cambridgeshire, near Peterborough. His mother was Adelaide Elizabeth Morgan (1837-1902). J. D. Beresford suffered from infantile paralysis, leaving him partially crippled. He was schooled in Oundle. After studying architecture, he became a professional writer, beginning as a dramatist and then as a journalist. In early adulthood, he abandoned his father's theism and became a "determined but defensive" agnostic. He lived in Edwardian intellectual London and spent time in the provinces, particularly Cornwall, where D. H. Lawrence prolonged his stay in his Porthcothan villa. Later in life, Beresford abandoned his prior agnosticism and declared himself a Theosophist and pacifist. See less