Angus Reach

Angus Bethune Reach (23 January 1821 – 15 November 1856) was a 19th-century British writer, noted for both his journalism and fiction. He was an acquaintance of such contemporary novelists as William Makepeace Thackeray and Edmund Yates,

Journalistic career Reach was born in Inverness, Scotland, to solicitor Roderick Reach and his wife Ann. He attended school at Inverness Royal Academy, beginning early in life to contribute a series of articles to the local Inverness Courier. He subsequently became the Chronicle'''s arts critic, He also published works of travel writing, including Claret and Olives, an account of a tour of France originally serialised in the Chronicle. Another tale, told by Thackeray, concerned the pronunciation of his name. On their first meeting, Thackeray reportedly pronounced Reach's name to rhyme with "beach", and the latter informed him that the correct rendering was disyllabic: "REE-ack". Thackeray apologised for his mistake but later, when offering Reach dessert from a bowl of peaches, asked him "Mr Re-ak, will you take a pe-ak?"

Illness and death In 1854 Reach suffered an attack described variously in contemporary accounts as a "paralytic" illness and a "softening of the brain", and identified by modern biographers as a probable cerebral haemorrhage. including as a result of the frequent changes of ownership experienced by the Chronicle''.