Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ollier, Edmund
OLLIER, EDMUND (1827–1886), author, son of Charles Ollier [q. v.], was born in 1827, and privately educated. He ‘beheld Charles Lamb with infantile eyes, and sat in poor Mary Lamb's lap.’ As a boy he used to listen to Leigh Hunt's and B. R. Haydon's stories. He adopted the profession of literature, and, after some years of miscellaneous work, became connected with the ‘Daily News,’ ‘Athenæum,’ ‘Household Words,’ and ‘All the Year Round.’ In 1867 he republished verses which had originally appeared in the periodicals under the title of ‘Poems from the Greek Mythology, and Miscellaneous Poems.’ In the same year he contributed an edition of the first series of the ‘Essays of Elia,’ with a memoir of the author, to ‘Hotten's Worldwide Library;’ and in 1869 published an edition of Leigh Hunt's ‘Tale for the Chimney Corner.’ Becoming connected with the publishing firm of Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, Ollier wrote a memoir of Doré, &c., for the ‘Doré Gallery,’ 1870; ‘Cassell's Illustrated History of the War between France and Germany,’ 2 vols. 1871–2; ‘Our British Portrait-Painters from Sir Peter Lely to J. Sant,’ 1874; ‘Cassell's Illustrated History of the United States,’ 3 vols. 1874–7; ‘Cassell's Illustrated History of the Russo-Turkish War,’ 2 vols. 1877–1879; ‘A Popular History of Sacred Art,’ 1882; ‘Cassell's Illustrated Universal History,’ 4 vols. 1882–5. At the time of his death he was engaged upon the ‘Life and Times of Queen Victoria.’ The first eleven chapters were by Ollier, and the remainder of the work by Robert Wilson.
Ollier died at his house in Oakley Street, Chelsea, on 19 April 1886. He married a Miss Gattie, who survived him, but left no issue. He was a man of wide biographical and topographical knowledge, but his works were chiefly compiled from obvious sources.
[Times, 23 April 1686; Athenæum, 1 May 1886; Brit. Mus. Cat.; personal knowledge.]