SPECIAL COLLECTIONS HOME PAGE
GO TO FOLDER LISTING
GO TO INDEX
THE SIR HALL CAINE PAPERS
The Sir Hall Caine Papers primarily consist of correspondence to Sir
Hall Caine, comprising .5 linear feet of material arranged in 31 folders
in 1 box. Thomas Henry Hall Caine was born at Runcorn, Cheshire,
14 May 1853, the eldest son of John Caine, a ship's smith, of
Ballaugh, Isle of Man. Much of Caine's childhood was spent between
Liverpool and the Isle of Man. Leaving an elementary school in Liverpool
at the age of fourteen, Hall Caine became the pupil of a
local architect, but when he was about seventeen, owing to ill health,
he abandoned work for a time and revisited the Isle of Man, where
he succeeded his uncle as schoolmaster at Kirk Maugold Head. Returning
to Liverpool after nearly a year, he contributed articles to the Builder
and the Building News, and soon became assistant to a builder. His essays
in architectural criticism won him the notice of John Ruskin, while his
membership of the "Notes and Queries" Society brought him into contact
with many famous men, including Sir Henry Irving and the poet Sir William
Watson. Later in life he became an intimate friend of the Manx writer T.
E. Brown. In 1883 Hall Caine was offered a post on the
Liverpool Mercury and, while living in London, he worked for a time as one
of its leader-writers. His first novel, The Shadow of a Crime
(1885), appeared as a serial in the Liverpool Weekly Mercury, but he
soon abandoned journalism and settled in the Isle of Wight.
The publication in 1887 of the Deemster, a story set in the Isle of Man,
marked the beginning of his extraordinary popularity. From 1892
to 1893 Hall Caine visited Poland and the frontier towns of Russia at the
request of the Russo-Jewish Committee in order to investigate the facts of
Jewish persecutions, and in 1895 he was sent on behalf of the Incorporated
Society of Authors and the Colonial Office to Canada where he conducted
successful negotiations with the Dominion government on the subject
of Canadian Copyright. From 1901 to 1908 he was a member of the
Manx House of Keys, associating himself with the reforming party.
During the First World War Hall Caine devoted his energies
to Allied propaganda in the United States . He also edited
King Albert's Book (1914) for which he was made an officer of
the Belgian Order of Leopold. He was appointed K.B.E. in 1918 and
C.H. in 1922. He died at his home, Greeba Castle, Isle of Man,
31 August 1931, leaving unfinished a Life of Christ which was published
posthumously in 1938. Sir Hall Caine wrote nearly twenty novels,
including The Bondman (1890), The Manxman (1895), The Christian (1897),
The Eternal City (1901), The Woman Thou Gavest Me (1913) and Master
of Man (1921). A number of his works were adapted to the
stage, including The Bondman and The Woman Thou Gavest Me. A
majority of the correspondence in the collection involves Sir Hall's
business affairs, including sales, advertisements and film and stage
productions. There is a letter from Herbert Brenon regarding the filming
of The Woman Thou Gavest Me in 1918 and a letter from Virginia Brooks, an
actress in the stage production of the same work. Several letters from
William Heinemann, Ltd. discuss sales and marketing. Sir Hall's son,
Ralph Caine, was involved in much of the business management of Sir Hall's
works and is mentioned often in the correspondence. -
: - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : -
Extent: .5 linear
feet Number of Boxes: 1 Date Span: 1888 - 1926 Provenance: Gift of
John C. Hirsh, September, 1986 Processed by: Michael J. North Date: 21
March, 1991
- : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : -
Abbreviations
ALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. Autograph Letter Signed
AMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.Autograph Manuscript
TCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Typed
Card Signed
TLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Typed Letter
Signed
BULK DATES: 1895 - 1925
SPAN DATES: 1895 - 1925
EXTENT: .5 linear feet
GO TO FOLDER LIST
GO TO INDEX
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS HOME PAGE