Of course, her pregnancy and Maugham’s birth did little to alleviate her condition, so she had two more children after him, the last of whom was born on the 24th January 1882 and died the following day. Between the birth of the youngest of these three elder brothers and Maugham, Edith had contracted tuberculosis and the doctor had bizarrely prescribed childbirth as treatment, which led to Maugham’s birth so long after that of his brothers. Maugham’s deviation from the family career can perhaps be explained by his being raised effectively as an only child, for his three older brothers were already away at boarding school by his third birthday. Given that both Maugham’s father and grandfather were practitioners of law (Maugham’s grandfather, also named Robert, co-founded the English Law Society) it was assumed that Maugham and his brothers would follow suit, and his brother’s did his eldest, Viscount Maugham, served as Lord Chancellor in 1938-39. Robert was a lawyer dealing with the British Embassy’s legal affairs in Paris, and he arranged for Maugham to be born at the Embassy on British soil to ensure his exemption from the law of conscription into the French army for all boys born on French soil. William Somerset Maugham was born on 25th January 1874 to Robert Ormond Maugham and Edith Mary (née Snell).
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