Ferguson Wright Hume (8 July 1859– 12 July 1932), known as Fergus Hume, was a prolific English novelist, known for his detective fiction, thrillers and mysteries.
Early life
Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire, England, the second son of James Hume, a Scot and clerk and steward at the County Pauper and Lunatic Asylum there. In 1863 the family emigrated to Dunedin, New Zealand, where his father founded the asylum Ashburn Hall.[1] He was educated at Otago Boys' High School and studied law at the University of Otago. He was admitted to the New Zealand bar in 1885. Shortly after graduation Hume relocated to Melbourne, Australia, where he obtained a job as a barristers' clerk.
Rise to fame
Hume first came to attention after a play he had written, entitled The Bigamist was stolen by a rogue called Calthorpe, and presented by him as his own work under the title The Mormon.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was set in Melbourne, with descriptions of poor urban life based on his knowledge of Little Bourke Street. It was self-published in 1886 and became a great success. Because he sold the British and American rights for 50 pounds, however, he reaped little of the potential financial benefit. It became the best-selling mystery novel of the Victorian era; in 1990 John Sutherland called it the "most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the century".[2] This novel inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle remarked, "Hansom Cab was a slight tale, mostly sold by 'puffing'."[3] It was also brought to the stage.[4]
After the success of his first novel and the publication of another, Professor Brankel's Secret (c.1886), Hume returned to England in 1888.[5] His third novel, Madame Midas, was based on the life of the mine and newspaper owner Alice Ann Cornwell. After this book became a play[a] her estranged husband, John Whiteman, sued over its content.[7]
Personal life
Hume settled back in England, first in London, but after a few years in Thundersley, Essex at Church Cottage, probably at the invitation of the Reverend Thomas Noon Talfourd Major. Hume lived in Thundersley for thirty years, publishing in excess of 130 novels, plus several collections – most of them mystery stories, though he never recaptured the success of his first novel. He also wrote lyrics to songs composed by his brother-in-law, Charles Willeby, and book reviews for literary journals including The Bookman.
The 1911 census lists him as ‘author’, aged 51, and living at Church Cottage, Thundersley, which consisted of six rooms. He had a housekeeper, Ada Louise Peck, a widow of 69. He regularly travelled to Italy, France, Switzerland and other European countries.
When the Rev Talfourd Major died in 1915, Hume had to leave Church Cottage. He moved to ‘Rosemary Cottage’, 34 Grandview Road, Thundersley, where he lived with John Joseph Melville and his wife. Melville was a metallurgical chemist by profession, with a special study of alchemy.
Hume is now presumed by scholars to have been homosexual. Transgressive themes imbue his work; he lived for years with actor Philip Beck; maintained close friendships with a number of men who are suspected and known to have been homosexual, including the Rev. Talfourd Major; and was blackmailed by Antonio Bollars, a black Shakespearean actor who was later imprisoned for indecent assault on a male.[8] Bollars was part of a gang[9] who included fellow actor Gordon Lawrence, who was arrested in drag at the 1888 International Exhibition.[10]
Hume was reputed to be deeply religious and intensely private and known to avoid publicity, but in his later years he lectured at young people's clubs and debating societies. He died at Thundersley on 12 July 1932 and lies in an unmarked grave next to an actress and the Rev Maley. All he left in his will were some small items, like a horse blanket and a pipe. His estate was valued at £201.[11]
Works
Individual works
Plays
The Bigamist (1887). Hume gave the script to a fraudster, Calthorpe Mallaby, who re-titled the play The Mormon, and presented it under his own name at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1887
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, with Arthur Law (1888)
Madame Midas, the Gold Queen, with Philip Beck (1888)
↑Hume and British actor Phil Beck collaborated on the stage version, in which Beck played the lead role, subsequently took his own life.[6]
↑Kirk, Pauline M., "Fergusson Wright (Fergus) Hume (1859–1932)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 10 July 2025
↑"Suicide of Mr Philip Beck". The Colonist. Vol.III, no.IV. Tasmania, Australia. 25 January 1890. p.21. Retrieved 9 March 2021– via National Library of Australia.
↑Griffiths, D. (23 September 2004). Cornwell [other married names Whiteman, Robinson], Alice Ann (1852–1932), goldmining industrialist and newspaper proprietor. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 9 Dec. 2017, see link
↑Lucy Sussex, 'The Queer Story of Fergus Hume', in: Curtis Evans (ed.) Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall (McFarland & Co, 2017.), passim.
↑Personal Items, The Bulletin (Sydney), 13 October 1888, p8;
↑Extraordinary Case Of Imposture, The Argus (Melbourne), 1 October 1888, p10.
D.C. Wands. "Fergus Hume". Retrieved 6 November 2009.
Lucy Sussex, The Queer Story of Fergus Hume, in: Curtis Evans (ed.) Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall (McFarland & Co, 2017.)
External links
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