Bernard Capes

Bernard Edward Joseph Capes (30 August 1854 – 2 November 1918) was an English author.

Biography

Capes was born in London, one of eleven children: his elder sister, Harriet Capes, was a noted translator and author of more than a dozen children's books. His uncle, John Moore Capes, was President of the Oxford Union while attending Balliol College, Oxford and published a semi-autobiographical novel. His grandfather, John Capes, had converted to Roman Catholicism, so Capes was brought up a Catholic, and educated at the Catholic college Beaumont College. However, he rapidly 'gave this up'.

Capes was a prolific Victorian author, publishing more than forty volumes – romances, mysteries, poetry, history – together with many articles for the magazines of the day. His early writing career was as a journalist, later becoming editor of the monthly magazine The Theatre, the most highly regarded British dramatic periodical of its time. Other magazines for which Capes wrote included Blackwood's, Butterfly, Cassell's, Cornhill Magazine, Hutton's Magazine, Illustrated London News, Lippincott's, Macmillan's Magazine, Literature, New Witness, Pall Mall Magazine, Pearson's Magazine, The Idler, The New Weekly, and The Queen.

Capes wrote numerous ghost stories, which were later rediscovered by anthologist Hugh Lamb in the 1970s. His 1899 story "The Black Reaper" features a supernatural personification of Death. Capes also wrote historical novels. Love Like A Gipsy (1901) is set during the American Revolution. Capes' Bembo: A Tale of Italy is a novel which takes place during the reign of Galeazzo Sforza, the fifteenth-century Duke of Milan.