Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish writer, barrister, literary critic, and theatre manager. He was the author of the Gothic horror novel Dracula (1897) and the creator of the fictional character Count Dracula. The work and its antagonist are regarded as milestones in the fields of Gothic and vampire literature.
Stoker was the third of seven children and was bedridden for the first seven years of his life with an undiagnosed illness. He received his initial education at home, before enrolling at Trinity College Dublin in 1864. He excelled as a rugby athlete and was a prominent member of both the university's student union and the philosophical society. It was during this period that Stoker was initially introduced to literature, eventually becoming the auditor of the College Historical Society and writing his first paper.
At the outset of his career, Stoker spent ten years in the civil service at Dublin Castle, during which time he was also a drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail. Following this, he was employed as a theatre critic for several newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, and occasionally wrote short stories and theatre commentaries. He also served as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and the business manager of the West End's Lyceum Theatre, which Irving owned. While a theatre critic, Stoker founded the "Dublin Sketching Club" in 1879, which dealt mostly with art collections. He regularly travelled during his free time, particularly to Cruden Bay in Scotland, which was the setting for two of his novels and also served as the inspiration for writing Dracula. He was friends with both Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde, and had collaborated with other authors for experimental novels such as The Fate of Fenella (1892).
Stoker wrote a dozen horror and mystery novels and novellas, including The Mystery of the Sea (1902), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911), but his reputation as one of the most influential writers of Gothic horror fiction rests solely with Dracula. Since the early 20th century, the novel has become one of the best-selling works of vampire fiction, with Count Dracula entering the public imagination as one of the best-known fictional figures of the Victorian era. The work also shaped future representations of vampiric characters and themes and this led to Stoker being regarded by many as "the father of vampire fiction."
Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, in Dublin, Ireland. The park adjacent to the house is now known as Bram Stoker Park. His parents were Abraham Stoker (1799–1876), an Anglo-Irishman from Dublin, and Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley (1818–1901), of English and Irish descent, who was raised in County Sligo. Stoker was the third of seven children, the eldest of whom was Sir Thornley Stoker, 1st Baronet. Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there. Abraham was a senior civil servant.
Stoker was bedridden with an unknown illness until he started school at the age of seven when he made a complete recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years." He was privately educated at Bective House school run by the Reverend William Woods.
After his recovery, he grew up without further serious illnesses, even excelling as an athlete at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. He graduated with a BA in 1870 and paid to receive his MA in 1875. Though he later in life recalled graduating "with honours in mathematics", this appears to have been a mistake. He was named University Athlete, participating in multiple sports, including playing rugby for Dublin University. He was auditor of the College Historical Society (the Hist) and president of the University Philosophical Society (he remains the only student in Trinity's history to hold both positions), where his first paper was on Sensationalism in Fiction and Society.
Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student through his friend Dr. Maunsell. While working for the Irish Civil Service, he became the theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, which was co-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu, an author of Gothic tales. Theatre critics were held in low esteem at the time, but Stoker attracted notice by the quality of his reviews. In December 1876, he gave a favourable review of Henry Irving's Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. Irving invited Stoker for dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel where he was staying, and they became friends.
Stoker also wrote short stories, novels, and novellas; his first short story, "The Crystal Cup", was published by the London Society in 1872, followed by the novel The Primrose Path in five parts and the novella The Chain of Destiny in four parts in The Shamrock in 1875.
In 1876, while a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote the non-fiction book The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland (published 1879), which remained a standard work.
Furthermore, he possessed an interest in art and was a founder of the Dublin Sketching Club in 1879.
In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe of 1 Marino Crescent. She was a celebrated beauty whose former suitor had been Oscar Wilde. Stoker had known Wilde from his student days, having proposed him for membership of the university's Philosophical Society while he was president. Wilde was upset at Florence's decision, but Stoker later resumed the acquaintanceship, and, after Wilde's fall, visited him on the Continent.
The Stokers moved to London, where Stoker became acting manager and then business manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre in the West End, a post he held for 27 years. On 31 December 1879, Bram and Florence's only child was born, a son whom they christened Irving Noel Thornley Stoker. The collaboration with Henry Irving was important for Stoker and through him, he became involved in London's high society, where he met James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Working for Irving, the most famous actor of his time, and managing one of the most successful theatres in London made Stoker a notable if busy man. He was dedicated to Irving and his memoirs show he idolised him. In London, Stoker also met Hall Caine, who became one of his closest friends – he dedicated Dracula to him.
In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker travelled the world, although he never visited Eastern Europe, a setting for his most famous novel. Stoker enjoyed the United States, where Irving was popular. With Irving, he was invited twice to the White House and knew William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Stoker set two of his novels in America and used Americans as characters, the most notable being Quincey Morris. He also met one of his literary idols, Walt Whitman, having written to him in 1872 an extraordinary letter that some have interpreted as the expression of a deeply-suppressed homosexuality.
Stoker was a regular visitor to Cruden Bay in Scotland between 1892 and 1910. His month-long holidays to the Aberdeenshire coastal village provided a large portion of available time for writing his books. Two novels were set in Cruden Bay: The Watter's Mou' (1895) and The Mystery of the Sea (1902). He started writing Dracula there in 1895 while in residence at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel. The guest book with his signatures from 1894 and 1895 still survives. The nearby Slains Castle (also known as New Slains Castle) is linked with Bram Stoker and plausibly provided the visual palette for the descriptions of Castle Dracula during the writing phase. A distinctive room in Slains Castle, the octagonal hall, matches the description of the octagonal room in Castle Dracula.
Stoker visited the English coastal town of Whitby in 1890, and that visit was said to be part of the inspiration for Dracula, staying at a guesthouse in West Cliff at 6 Royal Crescent, doing his research at the subscription library at 7 Pier Road (now Quayside Fish and Chips). Count Dracula comes ashore at Whitby, and in the shape of a black dog runs up the 199 steps to the graveyard of St Mary's Church in the shadow of the Whitby Abbey ruins. Stoker began writing novels while working as manager for Irving and secretary and director of London's Lyceum Theatre, beginning with The Snake's Pass in 1890 and Dracula in 1897. During this period, he was part of the literary staff of The Daily Telegraph in London, and he wrote other fiction, including the horror novels The Lady of the Shroud (1909) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911). He published his Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving in 1906, after Irving's death, which proved successful, and managed productions at the Prince of Wales Theatre.