MacDonald , George , 1824-1905 , novelist and poet

Born, 1824; educated at a school at his birthplace in Huntly, West Aberdeenshire, Scotland; attended King's College, Aberdeen, 1840-1845; entered theological college at Highbury, London, 1848; minister, congregational chapel, Arundel, Sussex, 1850-1853; relocates to Manchester, 1853; publishes first book of poetry, Within and without (London, 1855); recuperation from disease in Algiers, 1856; living in Hastings, Sussex, 1857-1860; publishes the prose romance, Phantastes, (London, 1858); settles in London and builds social contacts with literary figures such as John Ruskin, Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning, 1859; Professor of English Literature, Bedford College, London, 1859; lectures at King's College London, 1866-1868; lecture tour of United States, 1872; first performance of play, Pilgrim's Progress, 1877; due to ill health spends large part of year at home, Casa Coraggio, Borighera, Italy, 1881-1902; publishes Lilith; died, 1905. Publications: Within and without (London, 1855); Phantastes, (London, 1858); David Elginbrod (London, 1863); Alec Forbes of Howglen (London, 1865); Robert Falconer (London, 1868); At the back of the north wind (London, 1871); The princess and the goblin (London, 1872); Wilfrid Cumbermede (London, 1872); Exotics. A translation of the spiritual songs of Novalis (London, 1876); The princess and Curdie (London, 1882); Lilith (London, 1895).