Hugh Conway

Hugh Conway, the pen name of Frederick John Fargus (26 December 1847 – 15 May 1885), was an English novelist born in Bristol, the son of an auctioneer.

Life

Fargus was intended for his father's business, but at the age of 13 joined the school ship Conway in the Mersey, lent by the Admiralty for training future merchant navy officers. In deference to his father's wishes, however, he gave up the idea of becoming a seaman. He returned to Bristol, where he was articled to a firm of accountants until his father's death in 1868, when he took over the family auctioneering business. He married Amy Spark, daughter of a Bristol alderman, on 26 August 1871. They had three sons and a daughter.^[1] One son, Archibald, was a first-class cricketer, scholar and clergyman.^[2]

Works

While a clerk Fargus had written the words for various songs, adopting the pen name Hugh Conway in memory of his training-ship days. James Williams Arrowsmith, the Bristol printer and publisher, took an interest in his work, and Fargus's first short story appeared in Arrowsmith's Miscellany. In 1883 Fargus published through J. W. Arrowsmith his first novella, Called Back, an early thriller of which over 350,000 copies were sold within four years. One admirer was the American poet Emily Dickinson. A stage version of the book was produced in London in 1884, and in that year Fargus published another story, Dark Days.

Ordered to the Riviera for his health, Fargus caught typhoid fever and died in Monte Carlo. He was buried in Nice. Several other books by him appeared posthumously, notably A Family Affair, which was serialized in the English Illustrated Magazine in 1884–85 and first published in volume form in 1885.

Long after his death, one of his novels was filmed as The Last Rose of Summer (1920).

Short Stories

• The Daughter of the Stars
  • 1881, in Thirteen at Table, Arrowsmith’s Christmas Annual 1881
• The Secret of the Stradivarius
  • 1881 Dec, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine Vol.130, pp. 771–784
• The Bandsman’s Story
  • 1882 Apr, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine Vol.131, pp. 491–504
• A Speculative Spirit
  • 1882 Jun 3, in All the Year Round Vol.49, pp. 373–377
• A Cabinet Secret
  • 1882 Dec 9, in All the Year Round Vol.50, pp. 469–475
• Fleurette
  • 1883 Apr, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine Vol.133, pp. 512–523
• The Blatchford Bequest
  • 1883 Nov 3, 10, 17, 24, in Chambers’s Journal Vol.60, pp. 699-, 713-, 729-, 744-
• My First Client
  • 1883 Dec, in Bristol Times and Mirror
• Miss Rivers’s Revenge
  • 1883 Dec 1, 8, 15, in Chambers’s Journal Vol.60, pp. 762-, 778-, 793-

———

• BOUND TOGETHER. TALES. In Two Volumes (1884)
• The Secret of the Stradivarius (1881)
• Fleurette (1883)
• A Cabinet Secret (1882)
• The Bandsman’s Story (1882)
• The Blatchford Bequest (1883)
• My First Client (1883)
• Our Last Walk
• Miss Rivers’s Revenge (1883)
• The Daughter of the Stars (1881)
• In One Short Year!
• The Truth Of It
• A Speculative Spirit (1882)

———

• Paul Vargas
  • 1884 Apr, in The English Illustrated Magazine Vol.1, pp. 439–449
• Chewton-Abbot
  • 1884 May 3, 10, 17, in Chambers’s Journal Vol.61, pp. 280-, 295-, 315-
• The “Bichwa”
  • 1884, in Bristol Times and Mirror Christmas Number
• A Dead Man’s Face
  • 1884 Dec, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Vol.70, pp. 143–152
• Julian Vanneck
  • 1884, in Society Winter Number
• A Genuine Ghost
  • 1884, in London Figaro Christmas Number
  • 1885 Jan 25, @ GenealogyBank
  • 1885 Jan 25, @ GenealogyBank
  • 1885 Feb 7, @PapersPast
  • 1885 Feb 21, @ PapersPast
• “Somebody’s” Story
  • 1884, in Shakspearean Show Book, pp. 3–12
• Carriston’s Gift
  • 1885, in The Graphic Summer Number, pp. 4–28

———

• CARRISTON’S GIFT, AND OTHER TALES (1885, New York)
• Carriston’s Gift (1885)
• Chewton-Abbot (1884)
• Paul Vargas (1884)
• A Dead Man’s Face (1884)
• Julian Vanneck (1884)
• The “Bichwa” (1884)

———

• At What a Cost!
  • 1885 Aug 22, in Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
  • 1885 Sep 18, in The Nottinghamshire Guardian
• The Story of a Sculptor
  • 1885 Aug 29, Sep 5, 12, in Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
  • 1885 Aug 28, Sep 4, 11, in The Nottinghamshire Guardian
• Capital Wine
  • 1885 Sep 19, in Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
  • 1885 Sep 25, in The Nottinghamshire Guardian

———

• AT WHAT COST, AND OTHER STORIES [1885]
• At What Cost (1885, as At What a Cost!)
• The Story of a Sculptor (1885)
• Capital Wine (1885)

———

• A Fresh Start
  • 1886 Jun 12, 19, @ Trove
  • 1887 Jun 24, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
  • 1887 Aug 4, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
  • 1888 Mar 13, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
  • 1893 Oct 12, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
  • 1893 Oct 20, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)

———

• CARRISTON’S GIFT ... [1886]
• Carriston’s Gift (1885)
• A Fresh Start (1886, @ Trove)
• Julian Vanneck (1884)
• A Dead Man’s Face (1884)

———

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers, London. Catalogue CLXXXVII, Spring 2010: Novels & Tales 1748–1926.
• . Accessed May 7, 2010.