Anthony Trollope (original) (raw)

Novelist 1815 – 1882

The great Victorian writer has a short but significant Belfast connection. A full-time official of the Post Office, in the autumn of 1853 he took up the post of Surveyor for the entire northern half of Ireland, working from the newly-built Custom House in Belfast. He was already the author of three unsuccessful novels, but found his true voice in the city, with The Warden (which was almost all written there), the first novel in his great Barsetshire series (including, of course, Barchester Towers).

Trollope spent much of his time on horseback, covering his vast territory, but when he was in Belfast his office in the Custom House is believed to have been behind the two first-floor windows to the extreme right of the south-facing (right) facade.

There is a Blue Plaque to him at 39 Montague Square, London W1, where he lived from 1873.

Location of plaque: Under the balustrade on the west side of the Custom House, to the right of the steps.