BARBELLION, W.N.P., pen name of BRUCE FREDERICK CUMMINGS (1889-1919), English diarist and biologist, was born on Sept. 7, 1889, son of a journalist. He obtained a post at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, and contributed articles on scientific subjects to scientific papers. He suffered from ill-health during his whole life in London, and after his marriage in 1915 with Miss Eleanor Benger, was told that his disease was disseminated sclerosis. He resigned his appointment in 1917, and died at Gerrard's Cross (Bucks.), on Oct. 22, 1919.
Barbellion's fame rests on the Journal of a Disappointed Man (1919), prepared by him from the entries in a diary which he had kept all his life. He himself describes his journal as "A self portrait in the nude;" and although it is possible that the circum stances of the author and his death six months after the publica tion had something to do with the great interest it excited, the book must be placed amongst the great autobiographical revela tions in literature. His posthumous works were : Enjoying Life, and Other Literary Remains (1919) ; A Last Diary (192o).