Author: James Skipp Borlase
Author: James Skipp Borlase (1839–1909)
Alternate Name(s): J. J. G. Bradley (pseudonym)
Biography: James Skipp Borlase was born in 1839 in Truro, the son of attorney James John Grenfell Borlase and his wife Frances. He was called to the bar in 1862. At the same time, he was already beginning to contribute stories and poems to the press, including the Family Herald and the London Journal. In September 1863, he married Rosalie Flamank and the following year the couple moved to Australia. While there, Borlase continued to work as a solicitor and writer, eventually becoming a staff writer for the Australian Journal. He briefly abandoned his wife due to "incompatibility of their tempers" and moved to Tasmania, but was legally compelled to return to her in Melbourne. He either divorced his wife or she died since Borlase married Elizabeth "Lilly" Longman Croxen in September 1866 and the couple had one son. In 1869, he returned to England and continued to write, now mostly for the penny press. Again, his marriage broke up (likely divorce) and he married a third time to Susanna Jane Newman in 1872 in Stepney and the couple had one daughter. Borlase died 1 November 1909 in Brighton. According to his probate, he left his widow over £10,000.
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References: John Adcock, Yesterday's Papers; Argus (25 January 1865); Brighton Gazette (6 November 1909); Manchester Courier (26 January 1867); Probate; Royal Cornwall Gazette (11 September 1863)
Fiction Titles:
- The Night Fossickers, and Other Australian Tales of Peril and Adventure. 1 vol. London: Frederick Warne, 1867.
- Daring Deeds and Tales of Peril and Adventure. 1 vol. London: Frederick Warne, 1869.
- The Brides of Venice. 1 vol. London: James Henderson, 1873.
- The King of the Conjurors. 1 vol. London: James Blackwood, 1877.
- Ned Kelly, the Ironclad Australian Bushranger. 1 vol. London: Alfred J. Isaacs and Sons, 1881.
- For True Love's Sake: A Tale of Paris. 1 vol. London: Frederick Warne, 1890.