5 famous writers who lived in south east London

South east London has served as the inspiration for many writers and has also been home to some very famous ones in our literary history.

We have rounded up five famous writers who lived in south east London during their lives and a little about them.

Samuel Pepys

Diarist Samuel Pepys, born in 1633, who famously documented events like the Great Fire of London in 1666, had ties to Greenwich and was known to have visited the area on a regular basis.

According to Dr Pieter van der Merwe, MBE, DL of the Greenwich Society, Pepys had former lodgings in Greenwich during the Great Plague of 1665, when the Navy Office temporarily moved to the old Greenwich Palace.

In a bid to protect his wife, the diarist sent her to live with another Naval officer in Woolwich Dockyard around the same time.

H.G. Wells

Born and raised in Bromley High Street, H.G. Wells famously wrote books such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine.

Wells was the son of a shopkeeper, who owned a shop on Bromley High Street, and wrote autobiographical works on the town and the social changes that took place.

Wells documented and commented on a number of areas in Bromley over the years, and today you can still see a Blue Plaque dedicated to his life in Bromley and works, located by Primark which was once the location of the shop where he was born.

Charles Darwin

Scientist and author Charles Darwin once lived in the village of Downe, located in the borough of Bromley.

He lived there for 40 years until his death in 1842.

Down House, now owned by English Heritage, was the former family home of Darwin and where he wrote On the Origin of Species.

Today you can still see the numerous nature experiments he conducted in the garden of the house, and his study containing his vast collection of specimens.

E. Nesbit

Children’s writer E. Nesbit, author of The Railway Children, once lived in Baring Road in Grove Park in the 1890s.

The writer formerly lived in a house known as The Gables, which stood around where the Ringway Centre in Grove Park is now.

Grove Park Station is one of the stations in the UK which stakes claim to being the inspiration behind The Railway Children, on account of the writer’s home being in close proximity to Grove Park Station.

Today Grove Park Station features a mural depicting The Railway Children, in homage to the claim, and the nearby nature reserve features a walk named The Railway Children Walk, in tribute to the children’s classic.

Edgar Wallace

20th century crime writer Edgar Wallace was born in 1875 in Greenwich, and later lived in Brockley at 6 Tressillian Crescent.

Wallace was an avid writer and published a total of 170 novels, 18 stage plays and 957 short stories during his life.

Today a Blue Plaque marks the house, commemorating the life of the famous detective story writer.