Goerge Robert Gissing. Novelist, best known for ‘New Grub Street’ about the hack writers who were concentrated in Grub Street, EC2. In 1830 Grub Street was renamed Milton Street; in WW2 it was badly damaged and the lower end was eventually built over with the Barbican. Gissing was born Wakefield, Yorkshire, in the family home behind his father's chemist shop. Fell in love with a Frenchwoman and in 1899 went to live with her there. A plaque on 13 Rue de Siam, Paris, says he lived there in 1900. Died Saint-Jean de Luz, France.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
