George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist andbon vivant.
Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces forFun magazine andThe Referee, but he was soon concentrating on social reform, particularly the plight of the poor in London's slums. A prolific journalist and writer he also produced a number of novels.
Sims was also a very successful dramatist, writing numerous plays, often in collaboration, several of which had long runs and international success. He also bred bulldogs, was an avid sportsman and lived richly among a large circle of literary and artistic friends. Sims earned a fortune from his productive endeavours but had gambled most of it away by the time of his death.
Sims was born inKennington, London, England. His parents were George Sims, a prosperous merchant, and Louisa Amelia Annnée Stevenson, president of the Women's Provident League. Sims was the oldest of six children, who were exposed to their parents' cosmopolitan artistic and progressive friends, including suffragists. He grew up inIslington, London, and his mother often took him to the theatre. He was educated inEastbourne and then Hanwell Military College and theUniversity of Bonn. He had begun to write poetry at the age of ten,[1] and at Bonn he wrote some plays, including an adaptation ofDr. Wespe byRoderich Benedix. He completed his studies in Germany and France, where he also became interested in gambling. In Europe, he translatedBalzac'sContes drôlatiques, which was published in 1874 by Chatto and Windus; but it was considered too racy and was withdrawn, only to be reissued in 1903.[2]
Sims was married three times and was twice a widower. In 1876 he married Sarah Elizabeth Collis (b. 1850), in 1888 he married Annie Maria Harriss (b. 1859) and in 1901 he married Elizabeth Florence Wykes (b. 1873), who survived him. None of these marriages produced any children.[2]The Times wrote in Sims's obituary that
He returned to England and briefly worked in his father's business, but his interests lay in writing, and he began to write stories and poetry. He began to publish pieces inFun in 1874, succeeding editorTom Hood and making friendships with fellow contributorsW. S. Gilbert andAmbrose Bierce. He also contributed early to theWeekly Dispatch.[1] In 1876, Sims penned a satiricopen letter "To a Fashionable Tragedian", humorously accusing actor-producerHenry Irving of incitingmass murder by emphasising the gore in his Shakespeare plays and of paying bribes to critics. Irving sued Sims and his editorHarry Sampson for libel, but after an apology he withdrew the legal action.[2]
In 1877, he began contributing to a new Sunday sports and entertainments paper, edited by Sampson,The Referee, writing a weekly column of miscellany, "Mustard and Cress", under the pseudonym Dagonet, until his death.[3] This was so successful that compilations of his verses from the paper, published asThe Dagonet Ballads (1879) andBallads of Babylon (1880), sold in hundreds of thousands of copies and were constantly in print during the next thirty years. He also wrote amusing and popular travelogues, also as Dagonet.[2] He became editor ofOne and All in 1879 and for various papers wrote about horse racing, showing dogs, boxing, and leisure. Although Sims published his "Mustard and Cress" column every week for 45 years without fail, according toThe Times,
Sims is best remembered for his dramaticmonologue fromThe Dagonet Ballads that opens "It is Christmas Day in the workhouse". Its zealous social concern aroused public sentiment and made Sims a strong voice for reform, dramatising the plight of suffering Londoners. He also contributed numerous articles from 1879 to 1883 about the bad condition of the poor in London's slums in theSunday Dispatch,Daily News and other papers. Many of these were later published in book form, such asThe Theatre of Life (1881, Fuller),Horrible London (1889, Billing and Sons),The Social Kaleidoscope, andThe Three Brass Balls. In particular, in 1881, Sims andFrederick Barnard wrote a series of illustrated articles entitledHow the Poor Live for a new journal,The Pictorial World. This was published in book form in 1883. He also wrote many popular ballads attempting to draw attention to the predicament of the poor.[4] These efforts were important in raising public opinion on the subject and led to reform legislation in the Act of 1885.[2][5]
Sims was appointed as part of an 1882 study of social conditions inSouthwark in 1882 and as a witness before the 1884 royal commission on working-class housing. Sims also raised public awareness of other issues, including white slave traffic in a series articles published in theDaily Telegraph, later in book form asLondon by Night (1906) andWatches of the Night (1907); and the maltreatment of children, writingThe Black Stain (1907).[2] Together withElizabeth Burgwin, he founded theReferee Children's Free Breakfast and Dinner Fund (1880). Burgwin had already been supplying free breakfats and dinners at her school, but she persuaded him to write an annual appeal inThe Referee. By 1900 it was the largest charity supplying free school meals in London.[6] He also worked to promote the boys' clubs movement and campaigned to open museums and galleries and permit concerts on Sundays as part of the National Sunday League.[2]
He also published a number of novels, including:[3]
His autobiography,My Life: Sixty Years' Recollections of Bohemian London (1917) became very popular. It consisted of reminiscences originally contributed toThe Evening News. Its profiles of Sims London contemporaries are written kindly but with zest.[1] His other books include:
Sims was intrigued by the psychology of crime, and he penned some ingenious detective stories. His story collection,Dorcas Dene, Detective (1897) featured an early example of a female detective in crime fiction.[7][8] One of the Dorcas Dene stories, 'The Haverstock Hill Murder', was dramatised for BBC Radio in 2008.[9] At Arthur Lambton's Crimes Club, Sims took pleasure in discussing cases withMax Pemberton,Conan Doyle andChurton Collins. He was consumed with the murders ofJack the Ripper and even became a suspect. A modern edition of his poetry,Prepare to Shed Them Now: The Ballads of George R Sims, was published in 1968.[4]
Sims's sympathy and wit were not enough to spare him some criticism. To make fun of Sims theNational Observer, in 1892, nominated him to succeedTennyson aspoet laureate. The members of theaesthetic movement were sometimes contemptuous of Sims, and in 1894 he was the butt of a spoof inThe Green Carnation byRobert Hichens. In 1899,Charles Whibley wrote an acid profile of Sims. Sims later sacrificed some of his standing among progressives with his 1906 campaign inThe Tribune, titled "Bitter cry of the middle classes", in which he criticised organised labour and argued that lower middle-class tradesmen and workers were over-taxed in the name ofstatism.[2]
Sims wrote over thirty plays, but most of them were adapted from European pieces. His first hit play,Crutch and Toothpick, based on a French farce byLabiche, was produced at theRoyalty Theatre in 1879 and enjoyed a run for 240 nights. In 1881, he wrote the even more successful melodrama,The Lights o' London, produced byWilson Barrett at thePrincess's Theatre, London. This ran for 286 nights and toured in the British provinces, as well as earning record ticket sales in America. It went on to tour continuously in Europe and elsewhere throughWorld War I. His next play,The Romany Rye, opened in 1882 at the Princess's and was a hit. On opening night at theTheatre Royal, Exeter, during its regional tour, scenery caught fire during the performance, causing theExeter Theatre Royal fire, which remains the UK's deadliest building fire, and worst theatre disaster, killing 186 people.[10][11] All of the cast and crew survived the fire, which mostly killed audience members in the pits and gallery, and the tour continued, although at the following performance, costumes and scenery had to improvised and borrowed as they had all been lost in the blaze.[12]
In the early 1880s, Sims became the first playwright to have four plays running simultaneously in West End theatres. He also had a dozen touring companies playing his works by that time. He collaborated on many of his plays, and his co-authors included Barrett,Sydney Grundy andClement Scott.[2]
His most successful collaboration was withHenry Pettitt, with whom he created a substantial body of hits, includingIn the Ranks (1883, 457 performances at theAdelphi Theatre) andThe Harbour Lights (1885, 513 performances at the Adelphi). TheirGaiety Theatremusical burlesques includedFaust up to Date (1888), which remained a hit for several years and coined a new meaning for the phrase "up-to-date", meaning "abreast" of the latest styles and facts.[13] Their next hit wasCarmen up to Data (1890). Both of these were composed by the Gaiety's music director,Meyer Lutz. WithCecil Raleigh, he wrote the hit burlesque opera,Little Christopher Columbus (1893), and among his other musical plays wereBlue-eyed Susan at thePrince of Wales Theatre (1892, starringArthur Roberts) andThe Dandy Fifth (Birmingham, 1898)[2] andDandy Dick Whittington (1895), at theAvenue Theatre, with a score byIvan Caryll.[14]Robert Buchanan and Sims co-authored five melodramas at the Adelphi between 1890 and 1893, includingThe Trumpet Call (1891), starringMrs Patrick Campbell early in her career. On stage, one night, Mrs. Campbell's costume collapsed which, her biographer suggests, extended the run of that play. Sims and Mrs Campbell had an affair, but she tired of it before he did.[15] In 1896, Sims wrote the melodramaTwo Little Vagabonds with Arthur Shirley (an adaptation ofLes deux gosses) which was a hit at Princess's Theatre and enjoyed many revivals. He also co-wrote somepantomimes, includingPuss in Boots produced at theDrury Lane Theatre.[1]
Sims's other famous melodramas included:
His other notable comedies included:
Sims enjoyed his position as a successful author and playwright and belonged to theDevonshire Club, theEccentric Club and others. He reported earnings of nearly £150,000 in 1898, but he gambled most of his wealth away, or gave it to charities, by the time of his death. He was passionate about sports, especially horse racing and boxing, and he played badminton and bred bulldogs. Sims invented a tonic, Tatcho, that was marketed to cure baldness, but his friends found this a source of mirth when it did not stop his own hairline from receding.[2]
Sims used theDaily Mail to wage a campaign to secure the pardon and release of a Norwegian,Adolph Beck, who had twice been imprisoned because of mistaken identity. This effort led to the establishment, in 1907, of the court of criminal appeal. For his assistance, in 1905, the king of Sweden and Norway made him a knight of theOrder of St Olav, first class, awarded by in 1905.[2]
He died at his home inRegent's Park, London, just after his 75th birthday in 1922, from liver cancer.[16] After a funeral service atSt Marylebone Parish Church, his body was cremated atGolders Green Crematorium, and his ashes were scattered in the crematorium's grounds.[17]
