Fred Merrick White (1859-1935) published a variety of novels and short tales under the pen name "Fred M. White," including the six "Doom of London" science-fiction works, in which various disasters strike London. These include The Four Days' Night (1903), in which London is beset by a massive killer smog; The Dust of Death (1903), in which diphtheria infects the city, spreading from refuse tips and sewers; and The Four White Days (1903), in which a sudden and deep winter paralyzes the city under snow and ice. These six stories were all first published in Pearson's Magazine and drawn by Warwick Goble. Fred Merrick White was born in 1859 in West Bromwich, a small village near Birmingham in England. The birth record indicates that he was born in the June quarter and that his initial name was "Fred" rather than "Frederick," as is commonly supposed. "Merrick" was the maiden name of his mother, Helen, who married his father, Joseph, in West Bromwich in the September quarter of 1858. Joseph and Helen White were living with their son at 18 Carters Green in West Bromwich when the census was taken in 1861. According to the census, Joseph's occupation is "solicitor's managing clerk." Ten years later, the family resided in Hereford, a county town in West England.
