1 of 2

LIFE

1874 Born May 29

1881 Family moves to new home at Number 11, Warwick Gardens, Kensington

1887 Enrolls as a day student at St. Paul's Preparatory School
Begins writing and sketching in journals

1892 Enters Slade School of Art and University College

1893 Experiences metaphysical crisis

1895 Leaves college without a degree, takes job at publishing firm

1896 Meets, falls in love with Frances Blogg

1900 Meets Hilaire Belloc

1901 Marries Frances Blogg

1904 Declines chair of literature at Birmingham University Meets John O'Connor, model for Father Brown

WORK

1891-3 Contributions to The Debater, the informal organ of the Junior Debating Club

1892 Short piece, "The Song of Labour," in The Speaker

1899 Begins to write for London's Daily News

1900 Poetry, Greybeards at Play and The Wild Knight and Other Poems

1901 Begins regular Saturday column for Daily News

1903 Commissioned to write "English Men of Letters" series, including biographies of Robert Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Leo Tolstoy, Thackeray, and Tennyson

1903-4 Debates Robert Blatchford in pages of The Clarion

1904 Novel, The Napoleon of Notting Hill

1905 Accepts invitation to preach at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden
Enters 30-year public debate with George Bernard Shaw

1909 Friend Maurice Baring becomes a Roman Catholic

1912 Begins to build "Top Meadow," a studio that eventually becomes the Chesterton home

1913 Younger brother, Cecil, becomes a Roman Catholic

1914 Falls seriously ill

1918 Cecil dies in war

1919-20 Travels with Frances to Jerusalem, the Continent, and North America

WORK

1905 Apologetics, Heretics Story collection, The Club of Queer Trades
Begins weekly articles for The Illustrated London news

1906 Biography, Charles Dickens

1908 Aposlogetics, Orthodoxy
Novel, The Man Who Was Thursday
Essays, All Things Considered

1909 Novel, The Ball and the Cross
Biography, George Bernard Shaw
Essays, Tremendous Trifles

1910 Essays, What's Wrong with the World and Alarms and Discursions

1911 Mystery collection, The Innocence of Father Brown
Criticism, Appreciations and Criticisms of the Work of Charles Dickens
Ballads, Lepanto and The Ballad of the White Horse

1912 Novel, Manalive
Essays, A Miscellany of Men

1913 Criticism, The Victorian Age in Literature
Play, Magic

1914 Mystery collection, The Wisdom of Father Brown
Novel, The Flying Inn
Commentary, The Barbarianism of Berlin and The Appetite of Tyranny

1915 Commentary, The Crimes of England

1917 History, A Short History of England
Commentary, Eugenics and Other Evils

1919 Travel, Irish Impressions

1920 Travel, The New Jerusalem

1921 Essays, The Uses of Diversity

1922 Mystery collection, The Man Who Knew Too Much
Travel, What I Saw in America

1922 Enters the Roman Catholic Church

1925 Launches G. K.'s Weekly, the official publication for the Distributist League

1926 Frances joins Catholic Church

1929 Joins the Detection Club

1932 Begins regular BBC broadcasts on literary subjects

1934 Made Knight Commander with Star, Order of St. Gregory the Great

1936 Dies June 14

WORK

1923 Biography, St. Francis of Assisi
Essays, Fancies Versus Fads

1925 Verse, Wine, Water, and Song
Verse, Collected Poems
Story collection, Tales of the Long Bow
Religious history, The Everlasting Man

1926 Mystery collection, The Incredulity of Father Brown
Theology, The Catholic Church and Conversion
Commentary, the Outline of Sanity

1927 Mystery collection, The Secret of Father Brown
Novel, The Return of Don Quixote

next page... |  1 of 2

share this page

RSS Feed   RSS Help