Author: Michael Augustus Gathercole
Author: Michael Augustus Gathercole (1802–1886)
Alternate Name(s): L. S. E. (pseudonym)
Biography: Michael Augustus Gathercole was born on 5 October 1802 in East Dereham, the son of shoemaker Michael Gathercole. From such humble origins, he rose by natural ability to be a schoolmaster in Liverpool before entering the Church of England. His Letters to a Dissenting Minister (1833) published under the pseudonym "L. S. E." to explain his entering the church caused much controversy and went through six editions. He followed these with other religious and polemical works as well as three works of juvenile fiction (also under the pseudonym). His literary work extended to the press where he contributed to periodicals and edited the Church and State Gazette. He was the long time vicar of Chatteris. No stranger to controversy, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment in 1838 for libels published against the nuns of Darlington and Stockton imputing truly outrageous practices. Later in life he was the defendant in another trial. He married twice and had six children. He died on 11 December 1886 in Chatteris.
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References: Boase; Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette (15 January 1887); Probate
Fiction Titles:
- Gwyneth: A Story of Seventeen Hundred Years Ago. 1 vol. London: Sunday School Institute, 1874.
- Matteo: or, The Little Guide. 1 vol. London: Sunday School Institute, 1875.