G. A. Henty

George Alfred Henty
Born	(1832-12-08)8 December 1832 Trumpington, Cambridge, England
Died	16 November 1902(1902-11-16) (aged 69) Weymouth, Dorset, England

George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902), was a prolific English novelist, special correspondent and Imperialist. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His works include Out on the Pampas (1871), 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 travelled 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 and Those Other Animals, short stories for the likes of The Boy's Own Paper and edited the Union Jack, a weekly boy's 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 occasionally 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 homeschoolers.

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

Henty is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

Bibliography

Henty wrote 122 works of historical fiction and all first editions had the date printed at the foot of the title page. (Reference G.A.Henty 1832–1902 A Bibliographical Study by Peter Newbolt.) Several short stories published in book form are included in this total, with the stories taken from previously published full length novels. 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 of judgement is that Charles Scribner's Sons of New York dated their Henty first editions for the current year. The first UK editions published by Blackie 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 1903, although the story itself had already been published in England prior to the first American edition, in The Boy's Own Annual.

False attributions

Many sellers of Henty, and websites listing Henty book titles, state that Forest and Frontier or Forests and Frontiers and The Stone Chest are by G.A. Henty. Neither story was written by Henty which has been confirmed by The Henty Society.

There have been claims that Henty did write The Stone Chest. These claims were based upon an American illegal 'pirate' edition from one of the many notorious American publishers of the time who stole copyright and filled their books with stories by unknown writers.

The Henty Society have thoroughly investigated The Stone Chest published by several of these American 'pirate' publishers, the likes of Burt, Donohue, Federal, Lupton, Mershon and others and their informed research reveals that the story was used as a filler story, was from an unknown writer and that the story clearly does not match anything written by Henty or his literary style.

With regard to claims of kinship with FS Brereton: Some years back an incompetent researcher stated that Henty was related to FS Brereton. This has been repeated many times since and also proved inaccurate by the Henty Society and confirmed by Brereton family descendants.

Finally, Henty was not the son of a stockbroker as many writers claim. The expression used back then was that Henty's father was a stockholder. Stockbroker is a misinterpretation of the word stockholder. His father had business interests in mining and many other ventures and lived off the proceeds from his holdings in various company stocks. This has been confirmed by The Henty Society via the Henty family.

UK and US availability

Reprints of all Henty's works are available from modern day British and American publishers, some through the support of American politician Arthur B. Robinson, whose use of Henty's books as the backbone of a home schooling curriculum has drawn criticism for some of their overtly racist content.

Controversial views

Henty's use in home-school curriculum is not without controversy, particularly because of the overtly racist content in some of his work. For example, in his book By Sheer Pluck (A Tale of the Ashanti War), in a section called The Negro Character, the protagonist is informed by his guide that:

"They [negroes] are just like children," Mr. Goodenough said. "They are always either laughing or quarrelling. They are good-natured and passionate, indolent, but will work hard for a time; clever up to a certain point, densely stupid beyond. The intelligence of an average negro is about equal to that of a European child of ten years old. ... They are fluent talkers, but their ideas are borrowed. They are absolutely without originality, absolutely without inventive power. Living among white men, their imitative faculties enable them to attain a considerable amount of civilization. Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a state little above their native savagery"

List of titles

Title	Title Page date
Search for a Secret, A	1867
March to Magdala, The	1868
All But Lost, Volumes I, II and III	1869
Out on the Pampas: The Young Settlers	1871
Young Franc-Tireurs and Their Adventure in the Franco-Prussian War, The	1872
March to Coomassie, The	1874
Young Buglers: A Tale of the Peninsular War, The	1880
Cornet of Horse: A Tale of Marlborough's Wars, The	1881
In Times of Peril: A Tale of India	1881
Facing Death, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit – A Tale of the Coal Mines	1882
Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades aka Boy Knight	1882
Friends Though Divided: A Tale of the Civil War	1883
Jack Archer: A Tale of the Crimea	1883
Under Drake's Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main	1883
By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War	1884
With Clive in India: The Beginnings of an Empire	1884
In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce	1885
St. George For England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers	1885
True to the Old Flag: A Tale of the American War of Independence	1885
Young Colonists: A Tale of the Zulu and Boer Wars, The	1885
Dragon and the Raven: The Days of King Alfred, The	1886
For Name and Fame: To Cabul with Roberts	1886
Lion of the North: A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus and the Wars of Religion, The	1886
Through the Fray: A Tale of the Luddite Riots	1886
Yarns on the Beach: A Bundle of Tales	1886
Bravest of the Brave, or, With Peterborough in Spain, The	1887
A Final Reckoning: A Tale of Bush Life in Australia	1887
Sovereign Reader: Scenes from the Life and Reign of Queen Victoria, The	1887
Young Carthaginian, A Story of the Time of Hannibal, The	1887
With Wolfe in Canada: The Winning of a Continent	1887
Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden	1888
For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem	1888
Gabriel Allen M.P.	1888
In the Reign of Terror: The Adventures of a Westminster Boy	1888
Orange and Green: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick	1888
Sturdy and Strong: How George Andrews Made His Way	1888
Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of California	1889
The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt	1889
Curse of Carne's Hold: A Tale of Adventure, The, Volumes I and II	1889
Lion of St. Mark: A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century, The	1889
The Plague Ship	(1889)
Tales of Daring and Danger, Five Short Stories	1890
By Pike and Dyke: A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic	1890
One of the 28th: A Tale of Waterloo	1890
With Lee in Virginia, A Story of the American Civil War	1890
Boy Knight: A tale of the Crusades, The	1891
By England's Aid: The Freeing of the Netherlands, 1585 - 1604	1891
By Right of Conquest: With Cortez in Mexico	1891
Chapter of Adventures: Through the Bombardment of Alexandria (aka The Young Midshipman (USA)	1891
A Hidden Foe, Volumes I and II	1891
Maori and Settler: A Tale of the New Zealand War	1891
Those Other Animals	(1891)
Dash For Khartoum: A Tale of the Nile Expedition, The	1892
Held Fast for England: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779 - 83)	1892
Ranch in the Valley, The	(1892)
Redskin and Cowboy: A Tale of the Western Plains	1892
Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion	1893
Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia	1893
In Greek Waters: A Story of the Grecian War of Independence (1821–1827)	1893
Rujub, the Juggler, Volumes I, II and III	1893
Dorothy's Double: The Story of a Great Deception, Volumes I, II and III	1894
Jacobite Exile: Being the Adventures of a Young Englishman in the Service of Charles XII of Sweden, A	1894
Saint Bartholomew's Eve: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars	1894
Through the Sikh War: A Tale of the Conquest of the Punjab	1894
In the Heart of the Rockies: A Story of Adventure in Colorado	1895
When London Burned: A Story of Restoration Times and the Great Fire	1895
Woman of the Commune: A Tale of Two Sieges of Paris (aka Cuthbert Hartington, A Girl of the Commune,Two Sieges and Two Sieges of Paris	1895
Wulf The Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest	1895
Knight of the White Cross: A Tale of the Siege of Rhodes, A	1896
Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow	1896
Tiger of Mysore: A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib, The	1896
At Agincourt: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris	1897
On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War	1897
Queen's Cup, A Novel, The, Volumes I, II and III	1897
With Cochrane the Dauntless: A Tale of the Exploits of Lord Cochrane	1897
Colonel Thorndyke's Secret (aka The Brahmin's Treasure (USA))	1898
March on London: Being a Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection, A	1898
With Frederick the Great: A Tale of the Seven Years War	1898
With Moore at Corunna: A Tale of the Peninsular War	1898
On the Spanish Main: A Tale of Cuba and the Buccaneers	(1899)
At Aboukir and Acre: A Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt	1899
Both Sides the Border: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower	1899
The Golden Cañon and The Stone Chest, or The Secret of Cedar Island (2-in-1 book)	1899 (The Stone Chest is a filler title, not by Henty)
Lost Heir, The	1899
Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War	1899
In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers	1900
No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendée	1900
A Roving Commission, or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti	1900
Won by the Sword: A Story of the Thirty Years War	1900
In the Irish Brigade: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain	1901
John Hawke's Fortune: A Story of Monmouth's Rebellion	1901
Out With Garibaldi: A Story of the Liberation of Italy	1901
Queen Victoria: Scenes from her Life and Reign	1901
With Buller in Natal: A Born Leader	1901
At the Point of the Bayonet: A Tale of the Mahratta War	1902
To Herat and Cabul, A Story of the First Afghan War	1902
With Roberts to Pretoria: A Tale of the South African War	1902
Treasure of the Incas: A Tale of Adventure in Peru, The	1903
With Kitchener in the Soudan, A Story of Atbara and Omdurman	1903
With the British Legion: A Story of the Carlist Wars	1903
Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah, and Ashantee	1904
With the Allies to Pekin: A Story of the Relief of the Legations	1904
Gallant Deeds	1905 (five short stories)
By Conduct and Courage: A Story of Nelson's Days	1905
In the Hands of the Malays	1905
Among the Bushrangers from A Final Reckoning	1906
Indian Raid, An from Redskin and Cowboy	1906
Cast Ashore from With Clive in India	1906
Charlie Marryat from With Clive in India	1906
Cornet Walter from Orange and Green	1906
A Highland Chief, A from In Freedom's Cause	1906
Two Prisoners, The from A Soldier's Daughter	1906
Young Captain, The from With Clive in India	1906

Adaptation

There is one known instance of a book title by this very popular author having been filmed.

A Final Reckoning (1929), American, B&W: Serial/24 reels

Directed by Ray Taylor.
Cast: Frank Clark [Jim Whitney], Newton House, Louise Lorraine, Jay Wilsey, Edmund Cobb.
Universal Pictures Corporation production; distributed by Universal Pictures Corporation.
Scenario by Basil Dickey and George Morgan, from a novel by George Alfred Henty.
Cinematography by Frank Redman.

Twelve episodes (two reels each): [1] “A Treacherous Friend,” released 15 April 1929. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / [?] Website-IMDb lists the release date of the first episode as 15 April 1928.

References

• "G.A. Henty 1832–1902: A Bibliographical Study ...." by Peter Newbolt ISBN 978-1859282083
• Henty Society at www.HentySociety.org

External links

• Works by G. A. Henty at Project Gutenberg (plain text and HTML)
• Works by or about G. A. Henty at Internet Archive (new search, scanned books, original editions, illustrated)
• Works by G. A. Henty at Internet Archive (old search)
• Template:Worldcat id
• Works by and about G. A. Henty at Michigan Digitization Project
• Works about G. A. Henty at BallantyneTheBrave.com
• Alternative article containing additional information

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