The red cockade

Stanley John Weyman 7 August 1855 - 10 April 1928) was an English historical romance writer. His most successful novels, written between 1890 and 1895, were set in late 16th and early 17th-century France. They were quite successful at the time, but are now largely forgotten. Stanley John Weyman was born on August 7, 1855, in Ludlow, Shropshire, as the second son of an attorney. He attended Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated in 1877 with a degree in Modern History. Following a year of teaching at the King's School in Chester, he returned to Ludlow in December 1879 to live with his widowed mother. Weyman was called to the law in 1881 but struggled as a barrister due to his shyness, nervousness, and soft-spokenness. However, the lack of briefs provided him time to write. His short story "King Pippin and Sweet Clive" was published in the Cornhill Magazine, but its editor, James Payn, a novelist himself, advised Weyman that it would be simpler to make a career by writing novels. Weyman saw himself as a historian, so he was particularly pleased by excellent feedback on an article he wrote about Oliver Cromwell that appeared in the English Historical Review.