JEROME K JEROME
1859 – 1927
Comic writer who popularised the River Thames in his best-known work.
Jerome was born in Walsall in 1859, but moved to London as a young boy following the collapse of the family business. He left school at 14 and had several jobs, including teacher and journalist, but it is as a comic writer that he found lasting fame.
Jerome married Ettie Marris in 1888, and the honeymoon was to have a great influence on his most famous work. The honeymoon took place on the Thames, “in a little boat”, and when they returned home he began work on ‘Three Men in a Boat’, the comic adventures of three friends boating on the Thames, interspersed with accounts of the history of the area.
The book was an instant success, and has been in print ever since. Its’ success contributed to a 50% increase in the number of registered boats on the Thames, and helped the Thames become a tourist attraction.
Jerome wrote several other books, including ‘Three Men on the Bummel’, and ‘Diary of a Pilgrimage’, but nothing matched the success of ‘Three Men in a Boat’. He died in 1927, the year after he wrote his autobiography ‘My Life and Times’.
FIND OUT MORE –