The Art of Letters

Robert Wilson Lynd was an Irish author who lived from April 20, 1879, to October 6, 1949. He edited poetry, wrote literary essays, was a socialist, and was an Irish patriot. A Presbyterian minister named Robert John Lynd and his wife Sarah Rentoul Lynd had Lynd at 3 Brookhill Avenue in Cliftonville, Belfast. She was the second of seven children. Lynd's great-grandfather on his dad's side moved from Scotland to Ireland. Lynd went to school at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and made friends with James Winder Good and Paul Henry. He then went to Queen's University to study. His father was a Presbyterian Church Moderator for a while. He was the second in a long line of Presbyterian pastors in the family. An essayist who wrote about Lynd in 2003 said that his "maternal grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather had all been Presbyterian clergymen." Lynd started out as a reporter on The Northern Whig in Belfast, working with James Winder Good. He went to London from Manchester in 1901 and shared a house with Paul Henry, who was already a well-known artist. First, he wrote about theater for Today, which was edited by Jerome K. Jerome. He also wrote for the Daily News (later the News Chronicle), and from 1912 to 1947, he was the literary editor of that paper.