G. S. Street
G. S. Street, born George Slythe Street on July 18, 1867, in Wimbledon, England, was a notable author during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He was educated at prestigious institutions, including Charterhouse and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied literature and the classics. Street became part of a literary circle known as "Henley's Regatta," which included esteemed writers such as W. E. Henley and Rudyard Kipling. His literary output encompassed a variety of magazines and journals, leading to the publication of notable works, including his acclaimed satirical novel, *The Autobiography of a Boy*, in 1894. Street also ventured into playwriting, producing works like *Miss Bramshott's Engagement*, though none achieved lasting fame. He played a significant role in theater as an examiner for the Lord Chamberlain's Department, advocating for playwrights and the public amid censorship. Throughout his career, he authored several humorous novels and essays, notably *The Ghosts of Piccadilly*. Despite his contributions to literature, Street's popularity declined by the time of his death in 1936, although he remains an important figure bridging the late Victorian and early Edwardian literary scenes.
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G. S. Street
Writer
- Born: July 18, 1867
- Birthplace: Wimbledon, England
- Died: October 31, 1936
- Place of death:
Biography
George Slythe Street, Victorian and Edwardian author of note, was born on July 18, 1867, in Wimbledon, England. He was the son of Samuel Philip Street and distantly related to well-known architect, G. E. Street.
He began his education at Temple Grove in East Sheen and was a student at Charterhouse at the same time as Max Beerbohm, though the two writers did not meet until after their school days were behind them. From Charterhouse, Street attended Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied literature, humanities, and the classics.
Street was a part of the group of writers fondly referred to by Max Beerbohm as “Henley’s Regatta.” The writers, including W. E. Henley, Rudyard Kipling, W. B. Yeats, and Beerbohm, met regularly at Solferino’s, a restaurant in London; it was here that Beerbohm and Street finally and officially met, forming a lasting friendship.
Street wrote for a wide range of magazines and journals, including the National Observer, Yellow Book, Blackwood’s, and Fortnightly Review. It was from these writings that Street compiled a number of his books, including his first volume, Miniatures and Moods, a series of essays that examined seventeenth century figures. His most famous publication followed in 1894, a novel titled The Autobiography of a Boy, a satirical work that helped establish its author as an important and witty observer of the age. Many readers of the time deduced that the boy of the title was Street’s caricature of noted playwright and aesthete Oscar Wilde. In all, Street produced six books during the 1890’s, most of them collections of previously published writings.
By the end of the century, Street had discovered the theater. Though he wrote plays that received production, including Miss Bramshott’s Engagement, Great Friends, and The Anonymous Letter, none distinguished him as a playwright and none were ever published. Like George Bernard Shaw, Street was a reviewer of plays, an activity which drew him to become an examiner for the Lord Chamberlain’s Department, the place where official censorship reigned. By 1920 he assumed full responsibility for the examination of plays, which, as he wrote in his essay “Censorship of Plays” (Fortnightly Review, 1925), was less censorship than a means of protecting playwrights, actors, producers, and the public from unfair protestation.
Street did not abandon his interest in writing fiction. He produced several novels in the spirit of The Autobiography of a Boy, reviving his reputation as a humorist. These include Some Notes of a Struggling Genius and The Trials of the Bantocks. His most famous volume after the turn of the century was another collection of essays, The Ghosts of Piccadilly, a delightful examination of Piccadilly locales.
By the time of his death in 1936, Street’s renown as a social satirist had waned and interest in his writings had all but disappeared. Regardless, he was a vital part of the literary scene of the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. His writings provide passage through the late Victorian age into the early Edwardian period.