Author: Thomas Murray Ford
Author: Thomas Murray Ford (1854–1932)
Alternate Name(s): John Le Breton (pseudonym); Thomas Le Breton (pseudonym)
Biography: Thomas Murray Ford was born in 1854 in Hackney. At an early age, he went into business, first as a shipowner then as a ship broker. When these businesses failed, he turned to journalism and publishing. In 1879, he married Harriette Funnell and the couple had several children. By the mid 1890s, he was editing The Encore Annual published by Alice May Harte Potts (1869–1931) and managing Winter's Weekly for Henrietta Stannard. Potts, born in India, was a journalist and publisher: in addition to Encore, she also published Joker. A few years later, Ford and she collaborated on a novel Miss Tudor (1897) under the joint pseudonym "John Le Breton." They would go on to write several more novels, one collection of poetry, and some plays jointly and their relationship eventually became romantic as well. His first wife, unfortunately, was committed due to alcoholism—the situation formed the basis of the novel Unholy Matrimony (1899). When she died in 1905, Ford and Potts married. Subsequent to this, however, Ford formed an attachment to a third woman Mary Ann Woodgate who he supported in London and he would have several children with her. His second marriage to Potts, not surprisingly, broke down, ending in divorce in 1925. He then married Woodgate. In the twentieth century, Ford continued to write, sometimes using the pseudonym "Thomas Le Breton" for his solo efforts. During the First World War, despite his age, Ford enlisted as a captain. By the 1930s, Ford suffered from partial blindness. He died on 12 January 1932 in London.
Author Tags:
References: British Census (1881, 1891, 1901, 1911); Peter Jewel, Dunsmore People and Happenings Remembered (https://www.francisfrith.com/dunsmore,buckinghamshire/dunsmore-people-and-happenings-remembered_memory-130531); Kemp; pers inf (Julian Hamer); Times (31 May 1894, 26 November 1928)
Fiction Titles:
- Miss Tudor. 1 vol. London: John Macqueen, 1897.
- Faith, Hope, and Charity: A Novel of the Graces. 1 vol. London: John Macqueen, 1897.
- Unholy Matrimony. 1 vol. London: John Macqueen, 1899.
- Mis'ess Joy. 1 vol. London: John Macqueen, 1900.