Trivia

Bachelor.

He is interred at St. John's Churchyard in Keswick, Cumbria, England.

He was awarded the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1937 King's Honours List for his services to Literature.

He was rejected by the British army during World War I because of poor eyesight. He went to Russia with the Red Cross, and won a medal for rescuing a wounded soldier under fire.

Popular and prolific English novelist and story writer, born in New Zealand and active primarily during the 1910's and 20's. He was noted for his skillful narrative and plausible characterisation. Appeared as the vicar in MGM's 1934 version of "David Copperfield".

His father, a British clergyman who lived for a time in New Zealand (where Walpole was born), eventually became the Bishop of Edinburgh. Walpole was himself originally intended for a career in the clergy, but rejected the idea quickly on reaching adulthood.

Educated at the same school as Somerset Maugham (the King's School, Canterbury), although Maugham was ten years his senior.

He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, the same minor public school where Somerset Maugham had been a pupil; both writers hated the school. In later years, Walpole often claimed that Maugham (who was ten years his senior) was a close friend, but the publication of Maugham's comic novel "Cakes And Ale", where Walpole is caricatured as a ridiculous literary opportunist called "Alroy Kear", put an end to any friendship there may have been. Some have even said that he never recovered from the slight.