Born at Diss, Norfolk, and baptised on 7 August 1836, he was the only son of John Alger, a corn merchant there, by his wife Jemima, daughter of Salem Goldworth of Morning Thorpe, Norfolk.
At first he wrote for the Norfolk News, and afterwards transferred his services to the Oxford Journal.
He died unmarried at 7 Holland Park Court, Addison Road, West Kensington, on 23 May 1907.
[2] Alger researched the topographical history of Paris, and English participation in the French Revolution.
His major publications were:[2] Alger also published The Paris Sketch Book (a description of contemporary Parisian life) (1887), contributed historical articles to magazines, and was a contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography.