Frederick Greenwood - Early Years

Early Years

He was one of three brothers — the others being James and Charles — who all gained reputation as journalists. Frederick started life in a printing house, but at an early age began to write in periodicals. In 1853 he contributed a sketch of Napoleon III to a volume called The Napoleon Dynasty (2nd ed., 1855). He also wrote several novels: The Loves of an Apothecary (1854), The Path of Roses (1859) and (with his brother James) Under a Cloud (1860).

To the second number of the Cornhill Magazine he contributed "An Essay without End," and this led to an introduction to Thackeray. In 1862, when Thackeray resigned the editorship of the Cornhill, Greenwood became joint editor with GH Lewes. In 1864 he was appointed sole editor, a post which he held until 1868. While at the Cornhill he wrote an article in which he suggested, to some extent, how Thackeray might have intended to conclude his unfinished work Denis Duval, and in its pages appeared Margaret Denzil's History, Greenwood's most ambitious work of fiction, published in volume form in 1864.

Frederick Greenwood completed Elizabeth Gaskell's unfinished novel Wives and Daughters after she died suddenly in 1865.