Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome was the fourth child in the family of Marguerite Jones and Jerome Clapp. Jerome’s father squandered the family’s money (inherited by Marguerite) on a series of failed business ventures, which included investment in the mining industry. Down on their luck, the family moved to the impoverished East End of London, where they tried to maintain their well-to-do appearance. Following the deaths of his parents as a teenager, Jerome had to quit his studies. He found employment with the London and North Western Railway for four years before deciding to try his hand at acting. Frustrated by the theatre world, Jerome worked various jobs while developing his writing, most of which was rejected. In 1885 he finally found a publisher, and in 1886 put out Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, which remains one his best-known texts. In June 1888, Jerome married Georgina Marris, and the couple honeymooned in a boat on the Thames. Upon his return Jerome wrote Three Men in a Boat, which was and remains his biggest success. This new-found financial security allowed Jerome to concentrate fully on his writing, producing plays, essays, and novels before becoming editor of the popular The Idler magazine. At the outbreak of the WW1, Jerome was considered too old to join the British Army. Instead he volunteered as an ambulance driver for the French army, before retiring to the British countryside. In 1927, Jerome suffered a stroke and brain hemorrhage and died shortly after.