Lives of The Family Viles – With Photographs

[1] Black Bess, Volume I, No. 1.

by John Adcock & Robert Kirkpatrick

THE FIRST penny weekly number of Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road; A Tale of the Good Old Times, by an anonymous author, was published by Edward Harrison on August 8, 1863. The serial comprised 254 eight-page penny weekly numbers, ending just short of five years later in 1868. On July 1, 1868 an article was published in The Bookseller under the title ‘Mischievous Literature’ in which Black Bess, Blueskin, and The Black Highwayman — all published by Harrison — were mentioned as the work of one man.

[2] Yours Truly, Edward Henry Viles…

“…These tales, the writing of which is much superior – and hence their greater popularity – to that of the novels above named, are all from the pen of Mr. E. Viles, a young man who is said, in the ‘trade,’ to be more read in the blood-and-murder school of literature than any of his compeers…”

[3] Blueskin, Volume I, No. 1.

ACTUALLY, the first number of Blueskin; A Romance of the Last Century appeared a few days before Black Bess commenced. It was advertised in newspapers on August 2, 1863, and ran to 158 numbers, 1259 pages, ending in 1866. 

Montague Summers, in his A Gothic Bibliography (Fortune Press, 1941), claimed that Viles was a charming, generous man, whose main weakness in life was an urge to appear in the public eye as what he was not — an author.

A Gothic Bibliography was groundbreaking at the time it was published but has proven unreliable in many of its remarks on authors and publications. Two of his informants misled him, Australian bookseller John P. Quaine with his invented penny dreadful titles, and Andrew de Ternant with his author information.

[4] American 100-page series The Black Highwayman Novels with original British Robert Prowse illustration.

♦

The Black Highwayman; Being the Second Series of Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road was, according to Frank Jay, published in 86 numbers, 688 pages between 1866 and 1868, concurrent on the newsstands with the last two years of Black Bess. The copy John Adcock examined was a reissue from Edward Harrison in 172 weekly numbers at 688 pages. No title page, no date, but it did sport a colour cover and beautiful colour plates. In that copy the plates changed from full colour to black and white by plate issue no. 7. Nos. 1 and 2, with a coloured engraving, were given away with George Purkess’ Illustrated Police News on March 13, 1869 to promote a reissue.

[5] The Reader, November 26, 1864, pp.673-74.

Viles was well-read in literature as noted by his correspondence to the editor of The Reader on November 26, 1864 under the title Illustrations of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words.

[6] Edward Viles’ Examination Report, Nunhead Grammar School, December 15, 1853.

He has also been attributed as the author of Gentleman Clifford and his White Mare Brilliant; or, the Ladies’ Highwayman, published anonymously in 1864 by Edward Harrison. While possible there is no proof of Viles’ authorship.

[7] Edward Viles’ letters to his Papa from Nunhead Grammar School, May 24, 1854 and March 25, 1855.

Edward Viles was born Edward Henry Viles on November 21, 1841 at 41 Free-school Street, St. Olave's Parish in Southwark to Henry Andrew Viles, and Eliza Viles (formerly Lucas).

[8] ‘Charade,’ a poem by Henry Andrew Viles.

The father of Edward Viles was born at Smeeth, Kent, in 1816 as Henry VILE. According to a note in the parish register found by a Viles descendant, “In the year 1827 Henry took the additional name of Andrew after an Uncle named Andrew Mercer.” In 1841 census Henry Andrew Viles, mistranscribed as Harvey, was lodging at Freeschool Street, Southwark, married to Eliza A. Viles, 19 years of age, born in London. His age was given as twenty and his occupation as ‘grocer.’

[9] The Four Cardinal Points, by Henry Andrew Viles.

By 1851, now a clerk residing at Lichfield Street, Bilston, Staffordshire, married to Eliza A. Viles, 29 years of age. They had four children of whom Edward Henry was the oldest at nine. Seven more children followed. The children (by age) were Emily Eliza, Edward Henry, Clara, Kate, Walter Percy, Arthur Ernest, Herbert Horace, Sydney Wybuirn, Edith, and Tenbee (?) S. or Trubee (?).

[10] Birmingham Gazette, July 27, 1861.

All of a sudden father H.A. Viles lost his job. On July 27, 1861 Henry Andrew Viles’ employers, the Bilston Town Commissioners, charged their longtime clerk with embezzling a cheque for £500. The jury recommended mercy but Henry Viles was sentenced to sixth month’s hard labour. His son Edward Viles was now 19 years old, employed as an Accountant Clerk, and Walter Percy was ten, staying with Charles Paget, railway agent, and his wife and daughter at Wombridge, Shropshire. His son Arthur Ernest Viles, who would spend his life as a printer’s reader, author, editor and journalist, was eight, and stayed home. When Henry Viles returned from gaol he moved the family to London and opened a coffee shop, he was subsequently bankrupted in 1863. He established himself as a publisher in Cary Street and was bankrupted again in 1867.

[11] Boy’s Miscellany, September 19, 1863.

Edward Viles was possibly involved with Harrison’s Boys’ Miscellany, described by Frank Jay as “essentially the first periodical of what we may term the sensational character,” which preceded Black Bess, appearing weekly from March 7, 1863 to February 27, 1864. The September 19, 1863 issue began serializing the anonymous “Sixteen-String Jack, the Daring Highwayman.” The serial was also issued in penny weekly numbers as Jack Rann; or, Sixteen-String Jack, the Noble-Hearted Highwayman. 

[12] The Gentleman’s Journal, Volume IV, nos. 108 and 114.

Viles, In addition to writing Black Bess, was occupied with the Young Ladies’ Journal which ran from April 13, 1864 to February 1920, and The Gentleman’s Journal running from 1869 to 1872 when it merged with the Young Ladies’ Journal. Frank Jay said both periodicals were published by Edward Harrison and Edward Viles. He was also assisting the eccentric Frederick James Furnivall with editing a reprint of John Awdely’s The Fraternitye of Vacabondes which was published in 1869 by the English Text Society.

[13] The Fraternitye of Vacabondes.

Viles had made enough money by 1870 to build and occupy the magnificent Pendryl Hall, in Codsall Wood, South Staffordshire. (To our colleague Huib van Opstal it sounds like an allusion to Penny Dreadful Hall.) Viles’ building had a large billiard room and

“a vast laboratory and dark rooms where he [Edward Viles] spent much of his time experimenting with techniques to perfect microphotography, the art of shrinking photographs to microscopic scale, a very Victorian preoccupation.”

[14] Four Photographic Views of Edward Henry Viles.

Today it is known as Pendrell Hall, an exclusive country house available as a wedding venue with accommodation. In 1877 Viles photographs were exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society and his articles appeared in many photography periodicals. One photograph was an enlargement of the proboscis of a blowfly, another of the tongue of the honey bee.

[15] The Gentleman’s Journal, November 1, 1869.

By 1864 his father Henry Andrew Viles, a free man again, had turned to publishing. An advertisement in The Times on October 7, 1864, page 2 read: The Orator; A Treasury of English Eloquence. Monthly 6d. Part II now ready, H.A. Viles, 34 Carey-street, W.C. and all booksellers. In 1865 (reissued in 1873) he edited The Imperial Speaker; containing the most celebrated readings and recitations in the English Language – see HERE.

[16] Black Bess, a poem by Henry Andrew Viles, in The Imperial Speaker, 1865.

Among the poems, ancient and modern, is one titled ‘Black Bess’ authored by Henry Andrew Viles himself (the authors of the poems are listed on the end pages). The first edition was published by none other than Edward Harrison. 

The inscription on the front flyleaf of The Imperial Speaker in Hester Viles’ possession is: ‘Walter Percy Viles, With love from Aunt Clara 13/10/98’. This book was given to Walter Percy Viles, Jr. from his aunt Clara, the sister of Walter Percy the elder. One last work by Henry Andrew Viles was The Imperial Pocket Reader – see HERE. 

[17] Walter Percy Viles, December 19, 1874. Wood-engraving clipped from full-page publication HERE.

Walter Percy Viles was born December 22, 1850 at Bilston, Staffordshire. In the 1861 census,his name is not listed among the children. But in the 1871 census, he is living at home and listed as a twenty one year old Author. At that time his younger brother, fifteen year old Arthur Ernest Viles, was listed as a printer-reader. 

[18] Birth Registry for Walter Percy Viles the younger.

Walter Percy married Sarah Margaret Russell. One of Walter Percy and Sarah Margaret Viles’ children was also christened Walter Percy Viles. The son was born October 13, 1877, at 14 Pentonville Road, Pentonville. He had a sister, Alicia May, who married a man with the surname of Hall. 

[19] Walter Percy Viles the younger in “Past Preceptor Knights Templar” uniform.

The 1891 census record shows Walter jnr. as being the stepson of James Ellis, a Bench Attendant at the Inner Temple Hall. He married Amelia Giles on September 1, 1900, in Tottenham. In 1901 they were living in Tottenham with Walter earning his living as a solicitor’s clerk. By 1911 they’d moved to Camberwell. In March 1921, by this time an Oil Merchant, Walter was granted the freedom of the City. He died at 16 Queenswood Drive, Hitchin on February 27, 1956 leaving an estate worth £3,301 17s 2d to his wife. 

[20] Walter Richard Viles en route to South Africa, 1929.

Their children were Doris Clara born June 1, 1901, Mildred Kathleen born October 19, 1906, Walter Richard, 1908, and Henry Andrew born September 22, 1910, Edward George, 1914 who died as a baby, and Percy Augustus born July 24, 1917. Walter Richard Viles moved to South Africa in 1929. The family photographs shown here for the very first time came down through his family and are now in the possession of Hester Viles.

[21] Dashing Duke; or, the Mystery of the Red Mask, Hogarth House, 1878.

The elder Walter Percy Viles wrote boys stories using the pseudonyms Walter Villiers, Frank Mercer, and Benchley Beaumont. The British Library credits him with the penny dreadful Dashing Duke; or, the Mystery of the Red Mask which was serialized in The Boys’ Standard beginning in no. 120 in 1878. Dashing Duke was reissued in penny numbers by Hogarth House. We have not been able to trace any source for the British Library attribution yet. 

Charles Fox published Cartouche, the French Jack Sheppard which was tentatively (“I should imagine it may have been written by Frank Mercer”) attributed to ‘Frank Mercer’ by Henry Steele, in a letter to Barry Ono, but it seems unlikely that Walter Percy Viles was the author.

[22] Sir Claude the Conqueror, in Young Folks, October 1, 1881.

As Frank Mercer he wrote Florello; or, The Slaves of the Sapphire and The City Watch; or, The Secret of the Forty Footsteps for The Young Englishman. Also under the Mercer pseudonym he wrote Fred of the Falcon; or, The Flying Dutchman (reprinted in George Emmett’s Young Australian story paper), My Bonnie Brown Mare, and Ulva’s Chief; or, The Wraith of Loch Gyle for The Young Briton. He contributed Catch me Who Can; or, the Magic Horseshoe, to The Sons of Britannia as Walter Villiers.

[23] Silverspeare; or, The Magicians of Arabia, in Young Folks, September 12, 1874.

Walter Percy Viles’ most famous titles were done for James Henderson’s Young Folks’ Weekly Budget (a title that went through frequent changes) beginning with Silverspeare; or, The Magicians of Arabia, which began in Volume 5, No. 188, August 1, 1874 by ‘Walter Villiers’. Silverspeare was followed by two sequels titled Silverland; or, The Further Fortunes of Silverspeare (January 2, 1875) and The Golden Helen; or, the Further Adventures of King Silverspeare (January 1, 1876). His last title for Young Folks was Sir Claude the Conqueror, begun on October 1, 1881. One Henderson title, Prince Charming, was published in book form but we have not been able to find this in the Young Folks periodical.

It was at Peckham that Walter Percy Viles died, on January 2, 1884. His wife, in making application to The Royal Literary Fund noted Viles last earnings were from £5 to £10 per week, until within the last two years, when illness prevented him from writing. She listed 12 works written between 1871 and 1877. Among those listed were some unknown titles: Brian the Bold, Locked Out, and Silver Axe. These three titles appeared in The Original Storyteller, a (weekly?) periodical whose first number appeared in 1872. The publisher is unknown. A.J. Allingham, in a letter in support of Walter P. Viles widow, stated that Viles wrote “about 8 stories for the Boys World and The Family Paper.”

[24] London Gazette, April 29, 1892.

In the 1881 census Edward Viles was listed as ‘Editor and Author General Literature.’ Two weeks after he turned fifty he died, on December 8, 1891, at 16 Wetherby Gardens in Kensington. The cause of death was Typhoid fever, a disease which claimed his daughter around the same time.

His parents outlived him. Both died at Edmonton in Middlesex; his father Henry Andrew Viles in 1894, his mother Eliza in 1901.

[25] Arthur Ernest Viles, photo.

Arthur Ernest Viles, editor, author, and journalist, was born at Bilston, Staffordshire in 1852. He wrote Drops in Life’s Ocean, a book of original verses reprinted from Punch, The St. James’s Gazette and The Whitehall Review. The book was published in London by Houlston and Sons in 1888.

Arthur Ernest Viles died on September 6, 1924. The photograph above bore an inscription on the front: Walter Percy Viles, (the son of Walter Percy Viles the writer) from his Uncle Arthur, dated November 24, 1888.

Edward Viles married Annie Bennett on November 22, 1863, at St. Luke’s Church, Bilston, Staffordshire. The last of the literary Viles were Edward and Annie’s two sons, Edward Bennett Viles and Harold Bennett Viles, publishers. Son Harold Viles was a partner in Harrison and Viles (probably Edward Harrison, or one of his sons) at 135a Salisbury Court in 1897-c.1920.

[26] Drops in Life’s Ocean, 1888.

Under the pen name ‘E. Bennett’ three penny dreadfuls by Edward Bennett (b.1867 in London) and Harold Bennett (b.1868 in Bilston) were published around 1890-91. The titles were Paul’s Perils; or, the Days of Jonathan Wild, Marquis of Dalewood, and Rankley Grange, all by the same anonymous author. Edward Bennett Viles, journalist, author and publisher, left for Melbourne, Australia on the “Sophocles” (The Aberdeen Line) from London on November 6, 1924. He died in Australia in 1939.

[27] Paraphrase of the Twenty Third Psalm, by Edward Henry Viles, March 25, 1853.

Occupations listed for Harold B. Viles in the census records were ‘manager for book publishers’ in 1901 and ‘journalist’ in 1911. He died in June 1937 at Islington. He was married to Kate Elizabeth Burroughs in 1899 at Hampstead. In the 1911 census his stepdaughter Olive Hester Ada Burroughs was listed as a journalist, aged 23 years. She appears to have been the daughter of James C. Burroughs, a journalist and his wife Catherine. In the 1861 census he was a newspaper editor married to Catherine H. Burroughs, who was editor in 1881 of Young Ladies Journal, a ladies fashion paper published by Edward Harrison and Edward Viles. In the 1891 census her Christian names appeared reversed; she is then listed as Hester C. Burroughs, still as editor of Young Ladies Journal.

[28] Black Bess, Volume I, No. 66, illustration by Robert Prowse.

Our special thanks to Hester Viles, daughter-in-law of Walter Richard Viles, for family photographs and mementoes.

More information about Edward Henry Viles, Walter Percy Viles, and Robert Louis Stevenson can be found in a previous post titled ‘The Author of Black Bess’ – HERE.

The Gentleman’s Journal

The Gentleman’s Journal, an illustrated Magazine of Literature, Information and Amusement. Frank Jay in Peeps into the Past has a brief entry on Gentleman’s Journal >

“This was first published on November 1, 1869 but although splendid coloured plates, most interesting supplements, and other generous gifts were given away with it, the periodical ran to only 150 numbers, the last number being dated the latter end of September, 1872, when it was submerged with the number 436, Vol. 9, of “The Young Ladies’ Journal.”

Both periodicals were published by E. Harrison and Edward Viles (author of “Black Bess, or The Knight of the Road”), at Merton House, Salisbury Square, E. C.”

Very few serials identify the authors, Watts Phillips, Charles Stevens, ‘Ernest Brent’ (Harry Emmett), and ‘Charlton’ (Henry Charlton Emmett), both brothers of William Laurence Emmett and George Emmett contributed. Watts Phillips was a writer for the London Journal, where, under the names Fairfax Balfour, he wrote “Ida Lee; or, The Child of the Wreck.” Illustrations were by A. W. Thompson and Frederick Gilbert.

Jay again:

It was too “high-toned” to compete with Brett’s and Emmett’s journals, and although it was most profuse with its gifts of coloured plates, etc., it failed to hold its own with the other journals. A big feature was made in the addition of monthly recreation supplements, which by themselves form a good-sized volume containing some exceedingly clever articles on music, electricity, angling, gymnastics, sports of all kinds, draughts, clever problems of chess, poultry, rabbits, and other pets: in fact, everything that a youth could wish for, and yet it failed to obtain sufficient support, and so came to an end.
Some first-rate serials ran in its pages. In Vol. 1 -- “The Raven and what became of it,” “The Sea Kings,” “Saxilby Manor,” “Facing the World,” by Watts Phillips (whose name is associated with the old LONDON JOURNAL), “Gold; or, The Treasures of Ishultan,” “Mark Single,” “The Brothers’ Plot,” “The Three Volunteers.” Vol. 2, No. 36, July 1, 1870, “Townsend the Runner; or, The King’s Favourite,” “Behind a Mask; or, A Gipsy’s Hate,” “One of the Seven,” “Dick of the Diamond; or, Out on the World,” “The Tempter,” “The Life of a Soldier,” “True Blue,” by Charles Stevens, “Roland Strathorn.” Vol. 3, No. 65, no current date, only 1871 on title, “Zasco, the Corsair; or, The Lord of the Golden Island,” by Charles Stevens, “Roused at Last: or, The Slave’s Revenge,” “King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table,” by Chares Stevens, very finely illustrated, artist not given, and in the announcement of its commencement Charles Stevens is mentioned as the author of “Zasco, the Corsair,” and “Top Gallant Tom,” “Luke’s Luck,” by the author of “Dick and Dick’s Brother” (Ernest Brent.) (This tale had previously appeared in No. 1 of “The Young Briton.”) “Gipsy Monte; or, The Mystery of Oak Nook,” “Gold Mountain; or, The African Talisman,” and “Little Jim and Jack Diggory.” Vol. 4, No. 92 (no date), “The King’s Service,” by Charlton (Harry Emmett), “Paul Adair,” by Charles Stevens, “The White Indian,” “Heir to Half a Million,” “Tom Brady,” “Congo the Conjurer,” “The Secret of Hollow Oak Farm.” Vol. 5, Nos. 117 to 144, “Cosmo the Pirate,” “Dick Dareall; or, The Plague of the School,” “The Hunter’s Vision; or, The Search for the Cave of Gold,” “Mid of the Flora Dell,” by Harry Emmett. Vol. 6, 145 to 150, “Ned Hawley,” and all the other serials finished with the last number, with which was presented gratis a copy of No. 436, “The Young Ladies’ Journal,” in which periodical “The Gentleman’s Journal” became incorporated, and so ended one of the most ambitious journals for boys ever published.

Author of Black Bess

In 1923 the following request was asked of the readers of Notes & Queries

EDWARD VILES. - Information respecting Edward Viles, part author with the late Dr. F. J. Funivall, of ‘Rogues and Vagabonds in Shakespeare’s Time,’ would be of interest to readers as well as to

A. J. W. Barnes, S.W. 13.

The book referred to was the only book to date discovered bearing Edward Viles (1841-1891) name as author, “The Fraternitye of Vacabondes the groundworke of conny-catching,” published by N. Trubner & Co. for the Early English Text Society in 1869. In 1907 the book was reprinted by Chatto & Windus in the Shakespeare Library series under the title “The Rogues and Vagabonds of Shakespeare’s Youth: Audelay’s ‘Fraternitye of Vacabondes’ and Harman’s ‘Caveat.’”

Edward Viles, unless there were two gentlemen of that name, was an ardent Shakespearean scholar as was shown by his letter headed ‘Shakespeariana’ published in Notes & Queries [5th Series II p. 484] on December 19, 1874. Today he is most remembered for an anonymous penny dreadful; “Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road, a Tale of the Good Old Times,” published by Edward Harrison on August 8, 1863, when Viles was a youthful twenty-one years of age. This is not as improbable as it seems, many penny dreadful writers were learned in the history of felon literature.

To quote Frank Jay, Black Bess “ran to no less than 254 numbers and 2,028 pages, each number being illustrated. Allowing one number per week, it must have taken nearly five years to complete, a truly marvelous bit of work. The preface to the bound volume is dated 1868, but is it obvious the numbers were issued before that date.”

The heroes of Black Bess all share the good and bad qualities of the amiable criminal, and it would be hard for any reader to resist the highwaymen’s charm. Dick Turpin’s gang consists of Claude Duval, Tom King and Sixteen-string Jack. The four bound novels follow the well-known story of Dick Turpin, his Ride to York, his capture and his execution by hanging, where he voluntarily leaped off the platform to his death. Duval and the rest of the improbable characters are brought in to help alleviate the boredom of a 2028 page work. The author can involve Sixteen String Jack, or Tom King, or Duval or Turpin’s Maud in separate adventures and scrapes and help sustain the mad length of the serial. Captain Hawk is introduced in Book IV, page 1757, while all the characters are still alive. From this point on characters are decimated like flies, Maud is wounded in the breast and is buried in France, Duval is shot in a failed attempt to rescue Sixteen-String Jack, Turpin shoots Tom King, Black Bess is cruelly rode to her death, and Turpin is hung at Tyburn.

I thought till the last minute that the author may have spared Turpin, after all, the same (attributed) author, “Blueskin: a Romance of the Last Century,” (1866) ended with Jack Sheppard heading happily to France and freedom. Black Bess ends with Captain Hawk standing “at the opening of one of the strangest and most vicissitudinous (sic) careers that ever fell to the lot of man.” Captain Hawk is the hero of “The Black Highwayman, being the Second Series of Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road” begun in 1868 (Frank Jay says 1866-68, running to 86 Nos., 688 pages.) The copy I examined was a re-issue by Harrison in 172 weekly numbers at 688 pages, very different from Jay’s recollection. No title page, no date but a color cover and beautiful color plates.

The last work attributed to Viles was “Gentleman Clifford and his White Mare Brilliant; or, the Ladies’ Highwayman,” from 1864. If all these anonymously published works are from the pen of Edward Viles he must have been a remarkably prolific author to have been carrying on four serials weekly during 1863-1868! Montague Summers said that Viles main weakness was to appear in life as what he was not -- an author. That could be a comment on his wretched writing or it could mean he claimed authorship to works he had no connection with. He was rumored to have commissioned hacks to complete works that he then took the credit for.

Viles was not the only author credited with “Black Bess,” so was the celebrated author of “Minnigrey.” Andrew de Ternant wrote a letter to Notes & Queries [12 S. X. April 29, 1922, p. 333] claiming that “Thomas Catling (many years editor of Lloyd’s Weekly News) informed me in April 1890, that John Frederick Smith was the real author of ‘Black Bess,’ which was published in penny numbers. Mr. Catling said Smith’s remuneration was £3 10s. per week during the publication of the serial story. Smith often said he outlined his ‘Black Bess’ long before the publication of Harrison Ainsworth’s novel [Rookwood] on the same subject, and even thought of submitting his own version to the more popular novelist.”

“A large portion of the first fifty numbers of ‘Black Bess’ was written amid “eighteenth century surroundings” in the old office of Lloyd’s Weekly News ( a century and a half previously occupied by Samuel Richardson) in Salisbury Square, E. C. In fact Mr. Catling showed me the very desk Smith used. John Frederick Smith was always on cordial terms with Edward Lloyd, and was allowed the use of his favourite corner of the room and paper in writing his novels for other publishers.”

This turns out to have been a malicious hoax by Andrew de Ternant, a notorious liar.

So why was “Black Bess” considered the work of Edward Viles by Montague Summers, Frank Jay, Barry Ono, E. S. Turner and every writer since? The earliest known reference was originated by Robert Louis Stevenson in a Scribner’s Magazine article titled “Popular Authors” for July 4, 1888. Earlier, in “A Gossip on Romance,” R. L. S. spoke of his boyhood pleasures in ‘bloods’; “Give me a highwayman and I was full to the brim; a Jacobite would do, but the highwayman was my favourite dish.” Stevenson had progressed from studying lurid woodcuts and exposed text in newsvendor’s windows to the real article, penny dreadfuls in penny parts:

“My fall was brought about by a truly romantic incident. Perhaps the reader knows Neidpath Castle, where it stands, bosomed in hills, on a green promontory; Tweed at its base running through all the gamut of a busy river, from the pouring shallow to the brown pool. In the days when I was thereabout, and that part of the earth was made a heaven to me by many things now lost, by boats, and bathing, and the fascination of streams, and the delights of comradeship, and those (surely the prettiest and simplest) of a boy and girl romance-in those days of Arcady there dwelt in the upper story of the castle one whom I believe to have been the gamekeeper on the estate. The rest of the place stood open to incursive urchins; and there, in a deserted chamber, we (Stevenson and his sister) found some half-a-dozen numbers of Black Bess, or the Knight of the Road, a work by EDWARD VILES.”

The pair took their booty away “and in the shade of a contiguous fir-wood, lying on blueberries, I made my first acquaintance with the art of Mr. Viles.”

Stevenson could not have found the name Edward Viles in those half-a-dozen anonymous numbers so where could he have come across the information so confidently put forth? “Treasure Island; or, the Mutiny of the Hispaniola,” with one woodcut by William Boucher, cartoonist on “Judy,” appeared in Volume 19 of James Henderson’s “Young Folks” from October 1, 1881, to January 28, 1882. He also contributed “The Black Arrow,” running from June to October, 1883, and “Kidnapped,” May to July, 1886.

Councilor J. Wilson Maclaren accompanied R. L. S. through his old haunts in Edinburgh. He remembers “McIndoo’s shooting-gallery, that foul-smelling underground tunnel, near the Royal Exchange. We had six shots each, and Stevenson missed the stone target twice. I was more successful; for I struck the bulls-eye and rang the bell five times, the secret being that most of my time as spent in McIndoo’s when a High Street Boy. The uncanny surroundings and the smell of the gunpowder must have stirred the adventurous memories of R. L. S.; for he confessed to me that, although ten years my senior, he still had a hankering to write for the ‘penny-bloods’ a type of literature such as The Boys of London and New York, to which I was contributing some pirate yarns at that time. Stories such as ‘Sweeney Tod,’ ‘The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,’ ‘Three-fingered Jack,’ ‘Dick Turpin,’ ‘David Haggart,’ ‘Jack Harkaway,’ and ‘Tom Wildrake’s Schooldays,’ were then very popular among youthful readers. The boys’ favourite hero in fiction at that time was ‘Cornelius Dabber’, the timber-legged character much addicted to drinking rum. When ‘Treasure Island’ was published in Young Folks, it seemed to me that the prototype of John Silver was my old friend and hero ‘Cornelius’ turned into a buccaneer.”

[Note; The Waterloo Directory shows two publishers of “The Boys of London and the Boys of New York,” (1877-1900) from James and Robert Jackson in Wigan, Lancashire and “Boys of London and New York,” (1879-1899) from Edwin J. Brett in London. It was a mixture of American stories printed from stereotypes from Canadian born Norman Munro’s “The Boys of New York” and original British stories.]

On 8 February 1924 Sir James Barrie told a story about Stevenson's love of penny dreadfuls during a speech on English Public Schools:

"Many years afterwards Robert Louis Stevenson, writing to me from Samoa of a visit he had lately paid to Sydney, described how he had gone into a booksellers' shop where they showed him all the newest and choicest books. But he said to them, "I want no thoughtful works today; show me 'Sixteen String Jack the Footpad,' or 'Black Bill the Buccaneer.'"

James Henderson recalled (“Bought Treasure Island for Three Dollars a Column” May 18, 1912, Winnipeg Free Press) that during the course of serial publication of “Treasure Island” in November Stevenson was a frequent visitor to the offices of “Young Folks” in Red Lion Court where Henderson gave mid-day gatherings for his authors and editors. In September while awaiting publication of his story R. L. S. was already excitedly planning his next boy’s story for Henderson, to be titled “Jerry Abershaw, a Tale of Putney Heath.” By February 15, 1882 he was asking his friend Henley to send him the “Newgate Calendar.” Roadside inns, felon literature, and highwaymen were constantly on his mind.

W. E. Henley said that “Young Folks” authors such as Alfred R. Phillips, author of the wildly popular serial “Don Zalva the Brave” were “in no wise model citizens; they had their weaknesses, and (on his (Stevenson’s) editor’s report), were addicted to the use of strong waters, so that they had to be literally hunted for their copy.” Stevenson dedicated his novel “The Black Arrow to Phillips.” A serial titled “Sir Claude the Conqueror” appeared a bit previous to “Treasure Island.” An editor’s note on November 12, 1881 regretfully informed the readers that Sir Claude was to be discontinued; “we should not have broken off the story thus suddenly if we had not been forced to do so by circumstances which we need not describe in detail.”

Stevenson wrote to Gosse on November 9, 1881 : “See no. 571, last page; and article, called Sir Claude the Conqueror, and read it aloud in your best rhythmic tones; mon cher, c’est épatant. The story in question, by the by, was a last chance given to it’s drunken author; not Villiers -- that was a nom de plume -- but Viles, brother to my old boyhood’s guide, philosopher and friend, Edward Viles, author of Black Bess and Blueskin : a Romance. There is a byway of literary history for you; and in its poor way, a tragedy also.” 

Two days later he wrote to James Henderson “I was heartily sorry to find your poor friend Viles or Villiers had come to grief. Alas ! a little tragedy in it’s way.” In addition to Viles there were other contributors from the penny dreadful field contributing to “Young Folks” that R. L. S. may have conversed with, Charles Stevens and Percy Bolingbroke St. John. It is not much of a stretch to imagine that Stevenson learned of Viles authorship of “Black Bess” through Henderson’s offices in Red Lion Court, quite possibly from Edward Viles brother Walter.

Edward Henry Viles was born November 21, 1841 at 41 Freeschool Street, St. Olave’s, Southwark, London. “Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road, a Tale of the Good Old Times,” was published by Edward Harrison on August 8, 1863. Probably he was also involved with Harrison’s “Boys’ Miscellany,” described by Jay as “essentially the first periodical of what we may term the sensational character” which preceded “Black Bess,” appearing weekly from March 7, 1863 to February 27, 1864. The September 19, 1863 issue began serializing the anonymous “Sixteen-String Jack, the Daring Highwayman.”

He was next occupied with “TheYoung Ladies’ Journal” which ran from April 13, 1864 to February 1920 and “The Gentleman’s Journal” running from 1869 to 1872 when it merged with “The Young Ladies’ Journal.” Frank Jay said both periodicals were published by E. Harrison and Edward Viles, so perhaps they had a partnership. Viles had made enough money by 1870 to build and occupy the magnificent Pendryl Hall in Codsall Wood, Stafford, impossibe on the rates paid a penny dreadful hack no matter how prolific he was. By this time he was also assisting the eccentric Frederick James Furnivall with editing “The Fraternitye of Vacabondes.”

Frank Jay said Viles “was also a very keen and ardent collector of “Bloods” and “Penny Dreadfuls.” The writer was told by a well-known secondhand book-seller that Viles engaged him to employ a four wheeled cab and go round to all the old lending libraries and secondhand booksellers and buy up all the books of this kind he came across, and in this manner he acquired an immense stock which, at his death were sold by auction and commanded big prices.”

The (anonymous) works attributed to Edward Viles are;

1863 *Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road. A Tale of the Good Old Times* Anon. Illustrated by Robert Prowse and others. No. 1 August 8, 1863. E. Harrison, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street.

1864 *Gentleman Clifford and his White Mare Brilliant; or, the Ladies’ Highwayman* Anonymous. Illustrated by Moore and Williamson. London : E. Harrison.

1866 *Blueskin : A Romance of the Last Century* By the author of “Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road” &c. Illustrated by Robert Prowse and others. Edward Harrison, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street.

1868 * The Black Highwayman, Being the Second Series of Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road* Illustrated by Robert Prowse. Edward Harrison, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street. Jay has 1866-1868.

A comparison of “Blueskin” to the works of James Malcolm Rymer has convinced me that Rymer was the true author of “Blueskin,” (and possibly of “The Black Highwayman” as well),although he had already covered the story of Blueskin in his masterful 1860 penny dreadful “Edith the Captive; or, The Robbers of Epping Forest.” “Blueskin” and “Black Highwayman” both bore the words “by the author of Black Bess” on the title page to capitalize on the success of the interminable “Black Bess,” a ploy long in use by other publishers. For instance “Tyburn Tree; or, The Mysteries of the Past” By James Lindridge was “by the Author of The Old Manor House,” whose real author was gothic novelist Charlotte Smith.

“Gentleman Clifford” is wretched writing even by penny dreadful standards and bears little resemblance to the style of “Black Bess,” which (if I am correct) leaves one penny dreadful work on Viles resume, and that contested, which bears little resemblance to any of the above mentioned works, “Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road, a Tale of the Good Old Times.” Even this may have been the joint work of a variety of what historian Bill Blackbeard once termed “pocket hacks,” numerous authors working under the supervision of the author with the contract; i.e. Edward Viles. 

I had always thought that “Black Bess,” was the work of a multitude of hacks but after reading the entire work I can say that the style is remarkably consistent throughout, and the entire work shows that it is not just a series of improbable captures and escapes ad infinitum, but was carefully planned and plotted from the start.

*Photo of Pendryl Hall courtesy Trefor Thomas. Thanks to Peter Ross.