Author. He received much acclaim for being one of the most prolific British writers of the first half of the Twentieth Century. His first published book was a collection of poetry, “Verses and Sonnets” in 1895. He is remembered for his light verses for children, such as in his 1896 “The Bad Child's Book of Beasts” and his never-out-of-print 1907 “Cautionary Tales,” for being a historian, and for the easy-read essays. He was the author of over one hundred books, which included novels, tales of his travels, and biographies such as “Oliver Cromwell” in 1927, “James II” in 1928, and “Wolsey” in 1930. His 1899 “Danton” and 1901 “Robespierre” proved his historical sense and powerful control of words, whereas “Lambkin's Remains” in 1909 and “Mr. Burden in 1904 show his master of satire and irony. In “The Path to Rome” in 1902 tells of his ambulating pilgrimage from the Toul to Rome; this is considered one of his best writings. His historical writing include “Europe and Faith” in 1920 and the four volume, “History of England” 1925 to 1931, which revealed his thoughts, which were not always accurate, on European history. Born Joseph Hilarie Pierre Rene' Belloc, he was the son of a barrister, Louis Belloc, who was half-French and half-Irish and Bessier Rayner Parkes, who was the granddaughter of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Priestley. Although Preistley was protestant, Belloc was a devote Roman Catholic and most of his writings gave a profession of his faith. His father died when he was two-years-old and his widowed mother and children came to England. He was educated at Oratory School in Birmingham and Balliol College at Oxford. He was a journalist and the president of the Union, a debating society. Before graduation, he traveled to America and then served, since he was a French citizen, in the French Artillery. He graduated with first-class honors in history. After graduation he married an Irish-American, Elodie Hogan from California, and the couple had five children. They loss two sons to war, Louis was killed in World War I and Peter in World War II. He was considered by some sources as an“anti-Semitic hatemonger” based on his 1922 book “The Jews.” Retaining his French citizenship, in 1902 he became a naturalized British subject and from 1906 to 1910 served as a Liberal and then an Independent Member of Parliament for South Salford near Manchester. He purchased a house with five acres, King's Land Estate in Shipley Sussex, and wrote “The Four Men” in 1912 describing the area. He love sailing and wrote “The Cruise of the Nona” in 1925 on sailing. Later in his life, he published several book son his faith: “Essays of a Catholic” in 1931, “Great Heresies” in 1938, “Characters of the Reformation” in 1939 and “The Catholic at War” in 1940. He abandoned writing after a severe stroke in 1942, living disable for eleven years when an accident occurred. While replacing a hot coal into the fireplace, he fell into the fire. Although the burns were not extensive, his body was already debilitated dying four days later in a nursing home. Twelve posthumous books were published with the last in 2006 “The Way Out” by the Catholic Press.