Percy R. White

He was born in London, 1852, son of Dr Charles Edward W., educator, and Elizabeth Bayley. He was educated at home and attended school in France where Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) was his classmate. He briefly taught English in a French college before drifting into journalism. For ten years (1883–1893) he edited Public Opinion and later edited the Evening News before its purchase by Harmsworth. Thereafter he turned to fiction. His first novel, the satire Mr. Bailey-Martin (1893), was an immediate success, and he wrote steadily for the next few decades. In the words of The Times, "everything that he wrote revealed a cultivated mind; and an easy style, combined with a wide knowledge of the world and sense of humour".

In 1911, he was appointed as a lecturer in English literature at the Egyptian University at Cairo. During World War I, despite his age, he obtained a commission and worked as an interpreter, liaison officer, and intelligence officer.

In 1888, he married S. Constance Cooper (1858–1916). He died in Monaco, 3 July 1938.