NOTED NOVELIST DEAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20967, 2 September 1931, Page 11

NOTED NOVELIST DEAD.

SIR THOMAS HALL CAINE. LONG LITERARY CAREER. ISLE OF MAN ROMANCES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received September 1. 9.35 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 1. The death has occurred of Sir llall Cainp, the famous novelist, aged 78. Sir Hall died at Grceba Castle, Isle of Man, as he had always wished. His illness began with heart trouble, then congestion of lungs developed. Lady Cainc and her sons, Derwent and llalph, were present. It has been suggested that Sir Hall Caine, as the greatest Manxman, should be buried in the old ruined chapel of Peel Castle, A " Life of Christ," to which he devoted years of work, is left unfinished. His failure to completo this work cast a gloom over the novelist's life for the past three years. > Thomas Henry Hall Caine was born at Runcorn, Cheshire, in May, 1853, his father being a Manxman. He was educated in Liverpool and tho Isle of Man, one of his teachers being the father of Mr. Lloyd George, and was brought up as a Unitarian. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to an architect. During this period ho began to write for the papers ok his profession, which, however, lie never practised. Ho went to live in the Isle of Man and took up lecturing and teaching. A lecture which lie gave on Dante Gabriel llossetti led to a friendship with tho painter-poet, with whom he went to live in London, where he became a journalist. After Ilossetti's death Hall Caine wrote "Recollections" of his friend, and published a volume of sonnets and some critical studies. He also contributed to the Academy and the Liverpool Post. In 1885 he published his first novel, " The Shadow of a Crime," which was an immediate success. These and his other Manx stories he wrote on the advice of Rossetti, who had uointed out to him that the Isle of Man was virgin soil for the novelist and abounded in picturesquo customs and romantic traditions. His other novels include "A Son of Hagar," "The Deemster," "The Bondman," "The Scapegoat," "The Manxman," "The Christian," "The Eternal City," "The Prodigal Son," "The White Prophet" and "The Woman Thou Gavest Me," all written between 1886 and 1913. His first play was "Ben-my-Chree," produced in 1888. Ten years later came "The Christian," which was very successful. It was followed by dramatisations of others of his noveb and by original plays. Hall Caine, who had a good deal to do.with the abandonment of the three-volume novel, went to Canada in 1895 on behalf of the Authors' Society and the Colonial Office to negotiate Canadian copyright. Before the war he wrote a series of articles attacking the Isle of Man and its inhabitants, and declaring that tho Manxman was an individual incapable of telling the truth. This brought down a storm of criticism on his head, but in later years his fellow-islanders forgave him.

During the war he did propaganda work, which included successful lecturing tours in America and hundreds of articles in American papers, and edited "King Albert's Book," the proceeds of which were devoted to helping the Belgian refugees. At the request of Mr. Lloyd George he assisted in the preparation of the British war film in 1918. In tho same year he was knighted, and in 1922 was made a Companion of Honour. His strongly anti-German feeling gave place later to advocacy of reconciliation and pacifism, and in 1923 ho wrolc "Tho Woman of Knockaloc" (a Manx camp where aliens had been interned) in which his changed viows find a place. His Manx novels, in which there are excellent pictures of local life and character, are generally regarded as his best work, with the possiblo exception of "The Eternal City. But though he took his writing very seriously and went to the scenes of his nooks for local colour, the results aro somewhat crude, sensational and sentimental. In 2927 he denounced the "utterly insincere, impure thing that now too frequently goes by the name of drama.'' He was sure, lie said, that the great public in tho provinces did not want "this kind of muck-raking." At 76 he was still writing at Greeba Castle, his Manx home. Every fine eveninji he went for a stroll on (he road between Douglas and Peel, where he enjoyed nothing more than a chat with holiday-makers who plucked up sufficient courage to address him. In July, 1929. he was honoured with the freedom of Douglas, and in returning thanks he said: "The Isle of Man. has been my school, my university, my alma mater. It has taught me all or nearly all I know of human nature." Facially Sir Hall Caine somewhat resembled Shakespeare, and this likeness ho did his best to increase by the >vay in which he wore his hair and beard. Mr. Derwent Hall Caine. Labour M. P. for the Everton Division of Liverpool, is a son of the late Sir Hall.