Herbert Westbrook

Herbert Wotton Westbrook, also referred to as Herbert Wetton Westbrook (?? – 22 March 1959), was an author best known for having been an early collaborator of

Through Westbrook, Wodehouse would also be introduced to the names "Emsworth", "Threepwood" and "Beach", names which would feature in some of his most famous novels. Together, they also co-wrote some musicals and, under the pen name Basil Windham, a serial for Chums, "The Luck Stone".^[3]

Meeting Wodehouse

Meeting at Wodehouse's

As well as referring to him as "Brook", Wodehouse would also write a dedication to Westbrook, "that Prince of Slackers", in The Gold Bat (1904).[3] A later dedication to A Gentleman of Leisure (1910), read "To Herbert Westbrook, without whose never-failing advice, help, and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time".^[5]

After staying for some six months on the school grounds, Wodehouse rented a small house nearby called Tresco, before moving into Threepwood Cottage, and Westbrook would soon move in with him, as well as later sharing a flat in London. It was at Threepwood that Wodehouse would first write about

In 1911, Westbrook collaborated with Wodehouse in adapting the latter's short story "Ahead of Schedule" into another musical sketch, After the Show. He also published a few poems and short stories in The Windsor Magazine.^{[citation needed]}

Westbrook died on 22 March 1959.^[6]

Publications

Short stories

• "The Dog-Stroker", The Windsor Magazine (January 1904)
• "The Popularity of Algernon Fitz Clarence", The Windsor Magazine (May 1904)
• "To-morrow", The Windsor Magazine (June 1904)
• "A Cold in the Head", The Windsor Magazine (April 1905)
• "Impromptu", The Windsor Magazine (February 1906)
• "The Brick", The Windsor Magazine (January 1912)
• "And Lived Happily", The Windsor Magazine (March 1912)
• "The Shove", The Windsor Magazine (June 1912)
• "The Circuit", The Bellman (April 5, 1913)

Books

• The Cause of Catesby, or, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot – Herbert Westbrook (1905)
• Not George Washington – P. G. Wodehouse and Herbert Westbrook (Cassell’s, 1907)
• The Globe By the Way Book – P. G. Wodehouse and Herbert Westbrook (1908)
• Back Numbers – Herbert Wetton Westbrook (1918)
• The Booby Prize, a gesture: and another story – Herbert Wetton Westbrook (1924)

Sketches

• The Bandit's Daughter – P. G. Wodehouse, Herbert Westbrook (words) and Ella King-Hall (music) (1907)^[7]
• After the Show – P. G. Wodehouse and Herbert Westbrook (1911)^[8]

Play

• Brother Alfred – P. G. Wodehouse and Herbert Westbrook (1913)^[8][9]

Notes

References

• Jasen, David A. (1975). P. G. Wodehouse: A Portrait of a Master. London: Garnstone.
  ISBN 978-0-85511-190-8
  .
• Murphy, N. T. P. (1986). In Search of Blandings. London: Secker and Warburg.
  ISBN 978-0-14-010299-4
  .

• Works by Herbert Wetton Westbrook at Project Gutenberg