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G. A. Henty

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George Alfred Henty (December 8, 1832 - November 16, 1902), commonly referred to as G. A. Henty, was a prolific British novelist, war correspondent, and Imperialist born in Trumpington, England. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His most famous works include The Young Buglers (1880), With Clive in India (1884) and Wulf the Saxon (1895).

Biography

G.A. Henty was born in Trumpington, near Cambridge. He was a sickly child who had to spend long periods in bed. During his frequent illnesses he became an avid reader and developed a wide range of interests which he carried into adulthood. He attended Westminster School, London and later Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was a keen sportsman. He left the university early without completing his degree to volunteer for the Army Hospital Commissariat when the Crimean War began. He was sent to the Crimea and while there he witnessed the appalling conditions under which the British soldier had to fight. His letters home were filled with vivid descriptions of what he saw. His father was impressed by his letters and sent them to The Morning Advertiser newspaper which printed them. This initial writing success was a factor in Henty's later decision to accept the offer to become a Special Correspondent, the early name for writers now better known as War Correspondents.

Shortly before resigning from the army as a captain in 1859 he married Elizabeth Finucane. The couple had four children. Elizabeth died in 1865 after a long illness and shortly after her death Henty began writing articles for the Standard newspaper. In 1866 the newspaper sent him as their Special Correspondent to report on the Austro-Italian War where he met Giuseppe Garibaldi. He went on to cover the 1868 British punitive expedition to Abyssinia, the Franco-Prussian War, the Ashanti War, the Carlist Rebellion in Spain and the Turco-Serbian War. He also witnessed the opening of the Suez Canal and traveled to Palestine, Russia and India.

Henty once related in an interview how his storytelling skills grew out of tales told after dinner to his children. He wrote his first children's book, Out on the Pampas in 1868, naming the book's main characters after his children. The book was published by Griffith and Farran in November 1870 with a title page date of 1871. While most of the 122 books he wrote were for children, he also wrote adult novels, non-fiction such as The March to Magdala, short stories for the likes of The Boy's Own Paper and edited the Union Jack, a weekly boys magazine.

His children's novels typically revolved around a boy or young man living in troubled times. These ranged from the Punic War to more recent conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars or the American Civil War. Henty’s heroes -- which rarely included young ladies -- are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of 'pluck' yet are also modest. These virtues have made Henty's novels popular today among many Christians and Home Schoolers.

On November 16, 1902, Henty died aboard his yacht in Weymouth Harbour shortly before he finished his last novel, By Conduct and Courage., which was completed by his son Captain C.G. Henty.

Bibliography

Henty wrote 122 works of historical fiction. The dates given below are those printed at the foot of the title page of the very first editions in the United Kingdom. It is a common misconception that American Henty titles were published before those of the UK. All Henty titles bar one were published in the UK before those of America. The simple explanation for this error is that Charles Scribner's Sons of New York dated their Henty first editions for the current year. The first UK editions were always dated for the coming year, to have them looking fresh for Christmas. The only Henty title published in book form in America before the UK book was In the Hands of the Cave-Dwellers dated 1900 and published by Harper of New York. This title was published in book form in the UK in 1905, although the story itself had already been published in England prior to the first American edition, in The Boy's Own Annual.

The following are some of Henty's titles in alphabetical order, with British dates of publication:

aka Boy Knight
  • With Buller in Natal, A Born Leader, 1901
  • With Clive in India, The Beginnings of an Empire, 1884
  • With Cochrane the Dauntless, A Tale of the Exploits of Lord Cochrane, 1897
  • With Frederick The Great, A Tale of the Seven Years War, 1898
  • With Kitchener in the Soudan, A Story of Atbara and Omdurman, 1903
  • With Lee in Virginia, A Story of the American Civil War, 1890
  • With Moore at Corunna, 1898
  • With Roberts to Pretoria, A Tale of the South African War, 1902
  • With the Allies to Pekin, A Story of the Relief of the Legations, 1904
  • With the British Legion, A Story of the Carlist Wars, 1903
  • With Wolfe in Canada, The Winning of a Continent, 1887
  • Woman of the Commune, A Tale of Two Sieges of Paris, 1895
    • aka Cuthbert Hartington
    aka A Girl of the Commune
    aka Two Sieges
    aka Two Sieges of Paris
  • Won by the Sword, A Story of the Thirty Years War, 1900
  • Wulf The Saxon, A Story of the Norman Conquest, 1895
  • Young Buglers, A Tale of the Peninsular War, 1880
  • Young Carthaginian, A Story of the Times of Hannibal, 1887
  • Young Colonists, A Tale of the Zulu and Boer Wars, 1885
  • Young Franco-Tireurs and Their Adventure in the Franco-Prussian War, 1872
  • Young Midshipman, (American title of 'A Chapter of Adventures') undated

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