Gissing , George Robert , 1857-1903 , novelist

George Gissing was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, and educated locally and in Cheshire before attending Owens College (now the University of Manchester). He was a brilliant student but was expelled from the college after being caught stealing money to help a homeless woman, Nell Harrison (1858-1888), whom he later married. In 1876-1877 he spent a year teaching and writing in the United States before returning to Britain and settling in London, supporting himself as a private tutor. He published his first novel at his own expense in 1880 and he continued to write steadily; his best-known work is perhaps New Grub Street (1891). Gissing's personal life was often unhappy. His first wife died young and his second wife was sometimes violent and had periods of insanity; they separated after less than six years. From 1899 until his death, Gissing lived in France with an unmarried partner, Gabrielle Fleury (1868-1954), the French translator of New Grub Street.