1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Capes, Bernard Edward Joseph

Capes, Bernard Edward Joseph (1854–1918), British novelist, was born in London Aug. 30 1854 and educated at Beaumont College. He was a nephew of John Moore Capes, a prominent figure in the Oxford Movement, and was brought up a Roman Catholic. Originally intended for the army, he was prevented from taking a commission by a mistake as to the age at which he should have presented himself for examination. He was then put into a tea-broker's office and for some years struggled with uncongenial work, finally abandoning it to study art at the Slade School, London. In 1888 he joined the publishing firm of Eglington & Co. and succeeded Clement Scott as editor of The Theatre. In 1892 the firm came to an end, and he made an unsuccessful experiment in rabbit farming. But in 1896 he won a prize offered by the Chicago Record for a novel of mystery and henceforth devoted his energies to fiction. His novels, 36 in number, were mostly tales of adventure, some of them historical. They include The Lake of Wine (1898); From Door to Door (1900); A Jay of Italy (1905); A Rogue's Tragedy (1906); The Story of Fifine (1914) and Moll Davis (1916). He published also a volume of verse. He died at Winchester Nov. 2 1918.