Hugh Conway, the pen name of Frederick John Fargus (26 December 1847 – 15 May 1885), was an English novelist born in Bristol, the son of an auctioneer.
Fargus was intended for his father's business, but at the age of 13 joined the school ship Conway in the Mersey, lent by the Admiralty for training future merchant navy officers. In deference to his father's wishes, however, he gave up the idea of becoming a seaman. He returned to Bristol, where he was articled to a firm of accountants until his father's death in 1868, when he took over the family auctioneering business. He married Amy Spark, daughter of a Bristol alderman, on 26 August 1871. They had three sons and a daughter. One son, Archibald, was a first-class cricketer, scholar and clergyman.
While a clerk Fargus had written the words for various songs, adopting the pen name Hugh Conway in memory of his training-ship days. James Williams Arrowsmith, the Bristol printer and publisher, took an interest in his work, and Fargus's first short story appeared in Arrowsmith's Miscellany. In 1883 Fargus published through J. W. Arrowsmith his first novella, Called Back, an early thriller of which over 350,000 copies were sold within four years. One admirer was the American poet Emily Dickinson. A stage version of the book was produced in London in 1884, and in that year Fargus published another story, Dark Days.
Ordered to the Riviera for his health, Fargus caught typhoid fever and died in Monte Carlo. He was buried in Nice. Several other books by him appeared posthumously, notably A Family Affair, which was serialized in the English Illustrated Magazine in 1884–85 and first published in volume form in 1885.
Long after his death, one of his novels was filmed as The Last Rose of Summer (1920).
The Daughter of the Stars
1881, Thirteen at Table, Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual 1881
The Secret of the Stradivarius
1881 December, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 130, pp. 771–84
The Bandsman's Story
1882 April, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 131, pp. 491–504
A Speculative Spirit
1882 June 3, All the Year Round, Vol. 49, pp. 373–77
A Cabinet Secret
1882 December 9, All the Year Round, Vol. 50, pp. 469–75
Fleurette
1883 April, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 133, pp. 512–23
The Blatchford Bequest
1883 November 3, 10, 17 and 24, Chambers's Journal, Vol. 60, pp. 699 ff, 713 ff, 729 ff and 744 ff
My First Client
1883 December, Bristol Times and Mirror
Miss Rivers's Revenge
1883 December 1, 8 and 15, Chambers's Journal Vol. 60, pp. 762 ff, 778 ff and 793 ff
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Bound Together. Tales, 2 vols (1884)
The Secret of the Stradivarius (1881)
Fleurette (1883)
A Cabinet Secret (1882)
The Bandsman's Story (1882)
The Blatchford Bequest (1883)
My First Client (1883)
Our Last Walk
Miss Rivers's Revenge (1883)
The Daughter of the Stars (1881)
In One Short Year!
The Truth of It
A Speculative Spirit (1882)
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Paul Vargas
1884 April, The English Illustrated Magazine Vol. 1, pp. 439–49
Chewton-Abbot
1884 May 3, 10 and 17, Chambers's Journal Vol. 61, pp. 280 ff, 295 ff and 315 ff
The "Bichwa"
1884, Bristol Times and Mirror Christmas Number
A Dead Man's Face
1884 December, Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. 70, pp. 143–52
Julian Vanneck
1884, Society Winter Number
A Genuine Ghost
1884, London Figaro Christmas Number
1885 January 25, @ GenealogyBank
1885 Feb 7, @ PapersPast
1885 Feb 21, @ PapersPast
"Somebody's" Story
1884, Shakspearean Show Book, pp. 3–12
Carriston's Gift
1885, The Graphic Summer Number, pp. 4–28
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Carriston's Gift and Other Tales (1885, New York)
Carriston's Gift (1885)
Chewton-Abbot (1884)
Paul Vargas (1884)
A Dead Man's Face (1884)
Julian Vanneck (1884)
The "Bichwa" (1884)
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At What a Cost!
1885 August 22, Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
1885 September 18, The Nottinghamshire Guardian
The Story of a Sculptor
1885 August 29, September 5 and 12, Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
1885 August 28, September 4 and 11, The Nottinghamshire Guardian
Capital Wine
1885 September 19, Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
1885 September 25, The Nottinghamshire Guardian
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At What Cost, and Other Stories [1885]
At What Cost (1885, as At What a Cost!)
The Story of a Sculptor (1885)
Capital Wine (1885)
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A Fresh Start
1886 June 12, 19, @ Trove
1887 June 24, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
1887 August 4, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
1888 March 13, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
1893 October 12, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
1893 October 20, @ Trove (as A Hasty Marriage)
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Carriston's Gift... [1886]
Carriston's Gift (1885)
A Fresh Start (1886, @ Trove)
Julian Vanneck (1884)
A Dead Man's Face (1884)
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