William Wymark Jacobs

English writer William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943), also known as W.W. Jacobs, left his mark with the horror story “The Monkey’s Paw.” However, Jacobs is also known for his humorous tales, many of which focused on “seaport life.”

Jacobs’s father was a wharf manager, which set the tone for Jacobs’s upbringing. Jacobs’s family lived in a house on a London wharf, which gave Jacobs the opportunity to learn about “the nautical culture of sailors, dock-workers, and the bargemen of the river.”

Jacobs went to school, and at 16, became a Post Office Savings Bank clerk. Frustration with his work inspired him to write, and in 1885, Jacobs began writing professionally.

Works of Jacobs’s include the short stories Many Cargoes and Sea Urchins, the novellas The Skipper’s Wooing and the Brown Man’s Servant, At Sunwich Port, and The Ghost of Jerry Bundler.

Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2004. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004.