Richard Doddridge Blackmore (June 7, 1825 - January 20, 1900), usually known as R. D. Blackmore, was one of the most famous English novelists of the his generation. June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 1825 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ...

Blackmore was born at Longworth, Berkshire, of which parish his father was vicar. Like John Ridd, the hero of Lorna Doone, he was educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton, and at Exeter College, Oxford. He practised for a short time as a lawyer but an early marriage with a beautiful Portuguese girl, and a long illness, forced him to live for some years in hard and narrow circumstances. Happily, in 1860, he came, unexpectedly, into a considerable fortune. Settling down at Teddington, he divided his life between the delights of gardening and the pleasures of literature; cultivating his vines, peaches, nectarines, pears, and strawberries, and writing, first, sensational stories, and then historical romances. His first publication was Poems by Melanter (1853), followed by Epullia (1855), The Bugle of the Black Sea (1855), etc.; but he soon found that fiction, not poetry, was his true vocation. Beginning with Clara Vaughan in 1864, he produced fifteen novels, all of more than average, and two or three of outstanding merit. Of these much the best in the opinion of the public, though not of the author, is Lorna Doone (1869), the two which rank next to it being The Maid of Sker (1872) (the author's favourite) and Springhaven (1887). Others are Cradock Nowell (1866), Alice Lorraine (1875), Cripps the Carrier (1876), Mary Anerley (1880), and Christowell (1882). For other places named Berkshire, see: Berkshire (disambiguation) Berkshire (IPA: or  ; sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a county in the south of England, to the west of London and also bordering on Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, Wiltshire and Hampshire. ... Lorna Doone, subtitled A Romance of Exmoor, is a novel by Richard Doddridge Blackmore, first published in 1869. ... Blundells School is a British public school, located in Tiverton in the county of Devon. ... Location within the British Isles. ... College name Exeter College Named after Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter Established 1314 Sister College Emmanuel College Rector Ms. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... Teddington is a place in London, England in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Lorna Doone, subtitled A Romance of Exmoor, is a novel by Richard Doddridge Blackmore, first published in 1869. ... 1869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... 1866 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Blackmore acted as the pioneer of the new romantic movement in fiction which Robert Louis Stevenson and other brilliant writers afterwards carried on. One of the most striking features of his writings is his marvellous eye for, and sympathy with, Nature. He may be said to have done for Devonshire what Scott did for the Highlands. He has been described as "proud, shy, reticent, strong-willed, sweet-tempered, and self-centred." Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson (November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894), was a novelist, poet, and travel writer. ...

Lorna Doone is the most famous of his heroines, but in Cradock Nowell, a fine tale of the New Forest, in Alice Lorraine, a story of the South Downs, and in The Maid of Sker, he has depicted womanly types equal in charm to Lorna. Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu River The New Forest is an area of Hampshire in England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and old-growth forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. ... Near Beachy Head The South Downs is one of the two areas of chalk downland in southern England. ...

Blackmore died at Teddington on January 20, 1900. January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.

A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature is a collection of biographies of writers by John W. Cousin, published around 1910. ...

External link

• Works by R. D. Blackmore at Project Gutenberg