Joseph E. Bates Joseph E. Bates Joseph E. Bates (May 5, 1837 – September 22, 1900) was an American politician who served on the city council and as mayor. Bates was born in Chautauqua County, New York and raised in Muskegon County, Michigan. He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1860, where he became involved in working for various businesses. He became active in city politics being elected a city councilor in 1868. Bates established enterprises including the Denver Brewery, Denver Pacific Railroad and the Denver Smelting and Refining Works. Joseph E. Bates was twice elected Mayor of Denver, in 1872 and again in
H. E. Bates story. At this time he was working briefly for the local newspaper in Wellingborough, a job which he hated, and then later at a local shoe-making warehouse, where he had time to write; in fact the whole of this first novel was written there. This was sent to, and rejected by, eight or nine publishers until Jonathan Cape accepted it on the advice of its highly respected Reader, Edward Garnett. Bates was then twenty years old. More novels, collections of short stories, essays, and articles followed, but did not pay well. During World War II, he was commissioned into the