Early Life of H.G. Wells

Born Herbert George Wells in Sept 21, 1866, in Kent, located in Southeast England.

The third and youngest son to a family n the lowest rank of middle class; father was a shopkeeper and cricketer, mother was a former lady's maid for a wealthy family and an evangelical Anglican.

Called “Bertie” as a child.

When he was five, he went to a “dame school,” where a woman taught classes in her home. Three years later, after breaking his leg and while on bedrest, he discovered his love for reading.

A few years later, his father also broke his leg, which left him unable to make an income from cricketing. Young Wells, 13 at the time, had to go to work to help support his family.

He wrote and illustrated children's novel before he turned 14, called “The Desert Daisy.” It was published posthumously in 1957. At this time, the only copy available is located in the British Library.

Also when he was 14, he briefly apprenticed with a pharmacist, who recognized his academic potential. His mother, convinced that being a draper was a step up in the world for her son, insisted that he become a draper's apprentice.

He was miserable as a draper's apprentice, and he later termed this period as the worst years of his life.

At this point he rejected religion because he associated it with his mother's values. Two years later, in 1883, he walked 17 miles to beg his mother to let him attend Midhurst Grammar School. She let him.

At Midhurst studied under T.H. Huxley, one of Darwin's biggest supporters. Wells only spoke once to Huxley, and later said, "I believed that he was the greatest man I was ever likely to meet, and I believe that all the more firmly today."

In 1887 he failed his final exam in geology and lost his scholarship to Midhurst, then fell into poverty. He briefly held a teaching at a private school in North Wales, but quit by November. His health deteriorated, and he was wrongly diagnosed with tuberculosis. He coughed up blood for the next 12 years.

When he was 21, he wrote the earliest version of The Time Machine, titled "The Chronic Argonauts."

For the next three years he worked menial jobs, and spent his free time preparing for a degree in Science from the University of London. When he was 24 he earned a bachelors in science, with honors in zoology.

After earning his degree, he got a job as a undergraduate teacher. Now that he had sufficient income, he could support a wife. He married his cousin Isabel in 1891 on Halloween.