Reginald Cruden
By Talbot Baines Reed
This book is not so aimed at schoolboys as most of this author’s books, but at young adults just starting in life. The story warns about the mistakes a young man of goodwill might make in trying to find employment during hard times. Nevertheless, no one ever questioned the wealth of the Crudens, least of all did the Crudens themselves, who took it as much for granted as the atmosphere they breathed in. When our story opens, Mr Cruden drives into the city on business. No one knew precisely the company, for he kept such matters to himself.
It was an ordinary expedition, which usually consisted of half a dozen calls on half a dozen stockbrokers or secretaries of companies, with perhaps an occasional visit to the family lawyer or bank. Today, however, it consisted of but one visit, and that was to the bank. And it was whilst returning thence that Mr Cruden was suddenly seized with the stroke which ended in his death. Had immediate assistance been at hand, the calamity might have been averted. Still, neither the coach nor footman knew what had happened till the carriage was some distance from its homeward journey…
Genre: Young Readers
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Talbot Baines Reed
Talbot Baines Reed (3 April 1852 – 28 November 1893) was an English writer of boys’ fiction who established a genre of school stories that endured into the mid-20th century.
Biography
Among his best-known works is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic’s. He was a regular and prolific contributor to The Boy’s Own Paper (B.O.P.), where most of his fiction first appeared. Reed became a prominent typefounder through his family’s business and wrote a standard work on the subject: History of the Old English Letter Foundries. Reed’s father, Charles Reed, was a successful London printer who later became a Member of Parliament (MP). Talbot attended the City of London School before leaving at 17 to join the family business in Fann Street. His literary career began in 1879 when the B.O.P. was launched.
The family were staunchly Christian, pillars of the Congregational Church, and were heavily involved in charitable works. However, Reed did not use his writing as a vehicle for moralizing and was dismissive of those early school story writers who did, such as Dean Farrar. Reed’s affinity with boys, his intuitive understanding of their standpoint in life, and his gift for creating believable characters ensured that his popularity survived several generations. Other writers in the school story genre widely imitated him. In 1881, following the death of his father, Reed became head of the company.
By then, he had begun his monumental history, published in 1887. Along with his B.O.P. contributions, Reed wrote regular articles and book reviews for his cousin Edward Baines’s newspaper, the Leeds Mercury. He was a co-founder, first honorary secretary of the Bibliographical Society, and a trustee for his family’s charities. All this activity may have undermined his health; after struggling with illness for most of 1893, Reed died in November of that year at the age of 41. Tributes honoured his contribution to children’s fiction and his work as the definitive historian of English typefounding.
Talbot Baines Reed
