Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in Kensington, London. After school he determined on a career as an artist and entered the Slade School of Art. While there however he suffered a breakdown and left. He took a job with the publishers Fisher Unwin, reading manuscripts, editing, and handling publicity. In 1899 he asked Fisher Unwin to double his pay so that he could marry. They refused and he resigned. The first books he published were poetry. In 1901 he felt prosperous enough to marry and so he married Frances Blogg. First they lived in Kensington and afterwards in Battersea.
More novels of Chesterton were published and he became famous. After 1909 he and his wife left London and settled in Beaconsfield. In 1911 came the commencement of the 'Father Brown' series. He also continued to produce poetry. In 1916 his brother Cecil went to France as a soldier and G.K. took over the editorship of his brother's magazine Eye Witness later called New Witness. His brother died in 1918 and G.K. held the job till it's bankruptcy in 1922. In 1925 he started his own magazine G.K.'s Weekly. He continued writing till his death.