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1660 Born in London in 1660; son of a tallow-chandler 1666 Witnessed both Plague and Great Fire of 1666 1667 Educated first at Dorking, then at Morton`s Academy for Dissenters, Newington Green; to become a Presbyterian Minister 1684 Married Mary Tuffley insufficient to keep him from bankruptcy; later jailed for debt 1685 Fighting briefly in the Duke of Monmouth`s rebellion 1688 Supporter of William of Orange in the ‘Glorious` Revolution 1702 Wrote The Shortest Way with Dissenters Fined, put in the pillory and then jailed at Newgate Prison. Intervention by a Tory minister, Robert Harley, secured his release. Defoe served next eleven years as a secret agent and political journalist. Wrote over 500 books, pamplets and journals on politics, crime, religion, geography, marriage, psychology and the supernatural. 1719 Robinson Crusoe 1722 Wrote Moll Flanders, A Journal of the Plague Year and Roxana followed shortly after. 1731 Died |
