Ask Mamma, or, the Richest Commoner in England

Robert Smith Surtees was born on May 17, 1803 to a Durham (England) hunting family.

Educated to be a solicitor, Surtees began contributing to Sporting Magazine in 1830. The following year, he paired up with publisher R. Ackermann and founded the New Sporting Magazine. He continued to be an editor for the magazine for the next 5 years. He contributed comic sketches of Mr. Jorrocks to this magazine. The sketches and papers were collected and published in 1838 as Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities.

Mr. Jorrocks was reintroduced in the novel Handley Cross in 1843 and enjoyed wide popularity. Mr. Jorrokcs also appeared in Hillingdon Hall (1845). Other novels written by Surtees include: Hawbuck Grange (1847), Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (1853), Ask Mamma (1853), Plain or Ringlets? (1860), and Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds (1865). The last of these novels was published after the author's death.

Surtees's father passed away in 1838 and Robert inherited the family property of Hamsterley Hall, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1841 he married Elizabeth Jane and had one son and two daughters.

Robert Smith Surtees died in 1864.

030