Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born in London around 1660, the son of a candle maker named James Foe; he later added the 'De' to his name. His family were Presbyterian Dissenters, and he was educated at a Dissenting academy. He became a merchant, dealing in goods such as hosiery and wine, and traveled in Europe, but his business ventures often ended in debt. He took part in the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth in 1685. A prolific pamphleteer, he was fined, pilloried and imprisoned in 1703 for a satirical pamphlet about the treatment of Dissenters. Afterward he worked as a writer and secret agent for the government, including in Scotland before the union with England in 1707, and published a newspaper, the Review. In 1719, when he was nearly sixty, he published Robinson Crusoe, the story of a man shipwrecked alone on an island, which is often called one of the first English novels. Moll Flanders and A Journal of the Plague Year followed. He died in London in 1731.

Daniel Defoe is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Raised a Presbyterian and intended for the ministry, but chose a career as a merchant. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica