WELLS, HERBERT GEORGE ), English novelist, sociologist, historian and Utopian, was born at Bromley, Kent, on Sept. 21, 1866. His father, Joseph Wells, was a profes sional cricketer ; the young Wells had acquaintance with those straits, compromises and vicissitudes of the Victorian "lower mid dle class," which he was afterwards to describe, in several of his most famous novels, with such poignant sympathy and rich humour. Grants and scholarships took him to the Royal College of Science, at South Kensington; and in 1888 he graduated, with first-class honours, as B.Sc. of London University. He taught science for some years, as schoolmaster and private coach; but in 1893 turned to journalism, and in 1895 published his first book, Select Conversations with an Uncle, and began his astonishing career as a novelist with the short but vivid and powerful romance, The Time Machine. At this stage, Mr. Wells was one of the brilliant group known to the 'nineties as "Henley's young men." But already he had adopted his own line. He was to clothe scien tific speculation in the form of fiction. The Wonderful Visit and The Stolen Bacillus and Other Stories appeared and in 1896 fol lowed the grim Island of Doctor Moreau, and The Wheels of Chance. In this latter novel, Mr. Wells treats the romantic aspira tions of the awkward and the shabby ; and that strain was, later, developed more fully in Love and Mr. Lewisham, Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly. In 1897 came The Plattner Story, a collec tion of tales, and The Invisible Man—another scientific romance. In The War of the Worlds (1898) and When the Sleeper Wakes (1899) (subsequently revised, and re-published under the title The Sleeper Awakes, in 191i), there is again the double interest. Mr. Wells set himself to ask, not merely what might be, but what ought to be : and the enthusiasm of the reformer was manifested. Tales of Space and Time, a collection of short stories, appeared in 1899; and Love and Mr. Lewisham in 1900. In Anticipations, Mr. Wells presented his prophecies, as solid essays in constructive sociology. More essays followed in Mankind in the Making (1903). To the same period belong The First Men in the Moon 0900, The Sea Lady (1902), and Twelve Stories and a Dream (1903). The Food of the Gods (1904) is again scientific-sociologic romance : in A Modern Utopia (1905) the thought was summed up. The author was at this time preoccupied with the idea of an order of "Samurai," self-chosen and self-dedicated aristocrats, in some degree comparable with the Guardians in Plato's Republic. In this same year, 1905, came Kipps: the Story of a Simple Soul, a straightforward novel of contemporary life, which is still by many considered its author's masterpiece. 1906 saw In the Days of the Comet and The Future in America, as well as Mr. Wells's first incursion into active politics. He had been a member of the Fabian Society since 1903, but in 1906 came forward with criticisms of its methods. With these activities are connected This Misery of Boots (1907), and Socialism and Marriage (1908) —both Fabian tracts. In New Worlds for Old (1908) and First and Last Things (revised, 1917) Mr. Wells explained his Socialism.
The War the Air (1908) was a further scientific romance. Tono-Bungay (1909) inaugurated that series of novels in which Mr. Wells dealt with contemporary history. Ann Veronica, also published in 1909, dealt with the revolt of "emancipated" young women; and The History of Mr. Polly (1910) , is a reversion to the simple, jolly, pathetic type of Kipps. In the series inaugurated by Tono-Bungay may be placed The New Machiavelli (1911), Marriage ( 9i 2), The Passionate Friends (1913), The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914) and The Research Magnificent (1915). In 1914 appeared An Englishman Looks at the World and The World Set Free. Bealby (1915) seems a mere holiday from serious labours, and so does the satirical Boon (1915). Mr. Wells has written on the World War. In Mr. Britling Sees it Through (1916), he gave a picture of the "home-front." The titles of What is Coming? (1916) and In the Fourth Year (1918) speak for themselves ; 1917 saw another philosophical work, God the Invis ible King, and in the same year the author attempted to embody his philosophical ideas in fiction, with The Soul of a Bishop. In Joan and Peter (1918), three familiar strands are interwoven : his tory of a nation at war, destructive criticism of contemporary so cial method and constructive educational ideals. Various commen taries on post-war trends were: e.g., Russia in the Shadows (192o), The Salvaging of Civilisation ( 92 1), Washington and the Hope of Peace (1922). Obviously, the most important post-war work by Mr. Wells is The Outline of History (1920). He has also written a much briefer work of the same scope—A Short History of the World (1922). In the general elections of 1922 and 1923 he stood unsuccessfully as Labour candidate for the University of London.
The Undying Fire (1919), Men Like Gods (1923), and The Dream (1924), are propagandist discussion ; Christina Alberta's Father (1925), is an indictment of the Lunacy Laws; Meanwhile (1927), in fiction form, gives an account of the General Strike; and Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928) uses the vagaries of abnormal psychology, and the familiar Wellsian creation of strange tribes and monsters, to produce a satire on the civilisations that lead to war. We next have the intimate and sensitive "Intro duction" to a collection of stories and poems by Catherine Wells who died in 1927. The Book of Catherine Wells was published in 1928. Mr. Wells himself regards The Open Conspiracy (1928) as stating "the essential ideas of my life, the perspective of my world." Of William Clissold, it was urged that the author con fused fact with fiction. Other books: The Science of Life (with J. Huxley and G. P. Wells) (1929) ; The W ork,Wealth and Hap piness of Mankind (1932) ; Experiment in Autobiography (1934).
Mr. Wells's qualities have their defects : rapidity of judgment implies impatience towards slow democratic developments, his strength of personal conviction entails impatience towards the convictions of others. But he has exercised an unquestionable influence upon his generation. (G. Go.)