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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Sidney Laman Blanchard

Author: Sidney Laman Blanchard (1825–1883)

Biography: Sidney Laman Blanchard was born in 1825, the eldest son of author Samuel Laman Blanchard (1804–1845). After the death of his father, Blanchard began his career as private secretary to Benjamin Disraeli, then a rising statesman. In 1854, he moved to Calcutta where he edited the Bengal Hurkaru until the mutiny in 1857 when his editorials ran afoul of Lord Canning. While in Calcutta, in 1855 he married Helen Carmichael, the daughter of Dr. Hugh Carmichael. He returned to England in 1864 where he supported himself writing for a variety of periodicals such as All the Year Round, Household Words, and Temple Bar. Blanchard's articles were collected in The Ganges and the Seine (1862) and Yesterday and To-day in India (1867). At this time he wrote his only novel, Riddles of Love (1871). In 1873 Blanchard returned to India to edit the Times of India which lasted a short time and he owned the Indian Stateman for a few years. He returned to England in 1880 and died in 1883 in Brighton.

Author Tags:

References: Boase; DNB (Samuel Laman Blanchard); "History of Journalism in India," Calcutta Review (April 1908)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Riddles of Love: or, The Knave of Hearts.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1871.