Sturt, George, 1863-1927

English author and wheelwright who wrote under the pseudonym George Bourne.

From the description of Collection, 1893-1927. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122597861

Epithet: Rector of Critchell

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000571.0x000314

Epithet: banker, of St.Albans

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000571.0x000313

George Sturt was born in Farnham, Surrey, in 1863. He was a grammar school teacher until 1894 when his father died, after which George Sturt took over the family wheelwright shop in Farnham, where he lived for the rest of his life. He wrote numerous books and articles under the name George Bourne.

Sturt's first published book was A Year's Exile (1898), a novel--his only published novel--about country life among the people of Surrey. Many of Sturt's later books, essays, and articles dealt with country people and life, and at times with more specific and technical aspects of the practices and tools of the wheelwright and farmer. Among such books were The Bettesworth Book (1901), Change in the Village (1912), Lucy Bettesworth (1913), A Farmer's Life, with a Memoir of the Farmer's Sister (1922), and The Wheelwright's Shop (1923), often considered to be his best book. Sturt also authored a book on aesthetics titled The Ascending Effort (1910).

Although Sturt had friends in literary circles in London, he rarely left his village: he was devoted to the observation of the life and crafts there. Sometime in 1916 Sturt was struck with an illness which left him partially paralyzed; however, he continued to write until his death in 1927.

From the guide to the George Sturt (pseud. George Bourne) Collection TXRC95-A127., 1893-1927, (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center)