Person    | Male  Born 21/9/1866  Died 13/8/1946

H. G. Wells

Born Bromley, Kent. Wrote "The Time Machine", "The War of the Worlds", "The History of Mr Polly" (1909). Married twice but believed in and practised free love. Had many affairs, his mistresses including the novelists Rebecca West and Elizabeth von Arnim. Was a socialist and a member of the Fabian Society. Died at home at Hanover Terrace.

A renowned pacifist, in 1913 Wells published 'Little Wars', a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers. We first heard of it in Philip Ziegler's biography of Diana Cooper: "In 1913 H. G. Wells's game 'Little Wars', played with toy mechanical guns and tin soldiers was all the rage. Diana, Ego Charteris, George Vernon, John Granby and the Austrian Alfy Clary spent all day on their stomachs in a courtyard at Rowsley, shifting the pieces from one place to another."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
H. G. Wells

Commemorated ati

H G Wells - Baker Street

The H.G. Wells Society H.G. Wells, author, 1866 - 1946, lived and worked her...

Read More

H. G. Wells - Hanover Terrace

Greater London Council H. G. Wells, 1866 - 1946, writer, lived and died here.

Read More

H. G. Wells - High Street Bromley - birth

Site of birthplace of H.G. Wells, born 21st. September 1866.

Read More

H. G. Wells mural

The mural featured a portrait of Wells and pictorial references to some of hi...

Read More

H. G. Wells - Sevenoaks

H.G. Wells writer lived in this house in 1894 whilst writing The Time Machine...

Read More

Show all 11

Other Subjects

Dick Whittington's cat

Dick Whittington's cat

See Dick Whittington. The picture is the charming logo adopted by the Whittington Hospital on Highgate Hill.

Animal, Literature, Theatre

1 memorial
William Combe

William Combe

Writer. Chiefly remembered as the author of 'The Three Tours of Dr Syntax', a comic poem which satirised William Gilpin. 

Person, Literature

1 memorial
John Ruskin

John Ruskin

Author, poet, artist and art critic. Born at 54 Hunter Street, Brunswick Square. His first prose work was published in 1834 when he was only 15. He was a friend of Turner and became his executor. I...

Person, Art, Literature, Poetry

3 memorials
Valentine Cameron Prinsep

Valentine Cameron Prinsep

Born Calcutta, India. Artist and writer. His father was a civil servant in India and the family moved to England on his retirement. A minor figure in the Pre-Raphaelites, although he exhibited regu...

Person, Art, Literature, India

1 memorial
Lalla Rookh - poem

Lalla Rookh - poem

An oriental romance by Thomas Moore. The eponymous heroine (the name means 'tulip cheeked') is engaged to the young king of Bukhara. She goes to meet him, but falls in love with Feramorz, a poet fr...

Fiction, Literature

1 memorial

Previously viewed

County of London

County of London

This covered the area we would now call Inner London.  It was run by the London County Council. 

Group, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
World War 1

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...

Event, Armed Forces, Tragedy

402 memorials
Royal Society of Arts

Royal Society of Arts

Founded by William Shipley as the "Society of Arts" in Rawthmell's Coffee House. They carried on meeting in coffee houses and taverns but as the society grew they needed more space. Shipley rented ...

Group, Art, Commerce

17 memorials
Holloway Brothers

Holloway Brothers

A major construction firm with its own Wikipedia page. Henry Thomas Holloway and Henry Holloway based in Battersea. Later other brothers joined. Our picture shows a house they built in 6 days insid...

Group, Property

3 memorials
Anna Freud

Anna Freud

NW3, Maresfield Gardens, 20

Anna Freud, 1895 - 1982, pioneer of child psychoanalysis, lived here 1938 - 1982.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator