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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Michel Maxwell Philip

Author: Michel Maxwell Philip (1829–1888)

Biography: Michel Maxwell Philip was born in 1829 in Napaniana, Trinidad, the son of a white planter and a free African-American woman. He attended boarding school in Scotland and studied law in London, being called to the bar in 1854. While in England, he wrote his only book, the historical novel Emmanuel Appadocca (1854). Philip returned to Trinidad where he held a number of government offices: inspector of schools, mayor of Port of Spain, and solicitor general. He died in 1888 in Maraval. He is one of the few—maybe the only—Victorian novelist of color.

Author Tags:

References: Boase

Fiction Titles:

  1. Emmanuel Appadocca: or, Blighted Life. A Tale of the Boucaneers.  2 vol.  London: C. J. Skeet, 1854.