G. A. Henty (original) (raw)

British novelist (1832 – 1902)

George Alfred Henty
Photo portrait by Elliott & Fry
Born	(1832-12-08)8 December 1832Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, England
Died	16 November 1902(1902-11-16) (aged 69)Weymouth, Dorset, England
Occupation	Fiction writer, war correspondent
Period	Late 19th century
Genre	Literature

George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) was an English novelist and war correspondent.[1][2] He is best known for his works of adventure fiction and historical fiction, including The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883) and In Freedom's Cause (1885).

G. A. Henty was born in Trumpington, near Cambridge but spent some of his childhood in Canterbury.[3] He was a sickly child who had to spend long periods in bed.[note 1] 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, as a half-boarder when he was fourteen,[4]: 2 and later Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,[5] where he was a keen sportsman.

He left the university early without completing his degree to volunteer for the (Army) Hospital Commissariat of the Purveyors Department 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 journalists 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.[6] He also witnessed the opening of the Suez Canal and travelled to Palestine, Russia and India.

Henty was a strong supporter of the British Empire all his life; according to literary critic Kathryn Castle: "Henty ... exemplified the ethos of the [British Empire], and glorified in its successes".[7] Henty's ideas about politics were influenced by writers such as Sir Charles Dilke and Thomas Carlyle.[6]

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 and published by Blackie and Son of London, 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.

Henty was "the most popular Boy's author of his day."[8] Blackie, who published his children's fiction in the UK, and W. G. Blackie estimated in February 1952 that they were producing about 150,000 Henty books a year at the height of his popularity,[note 2][9] and stated that their records showed they had produced over three and a half million Henty books. He further estimated that considering the US and other overseas authorised and pirated editions, a total of 25 million was not impossible.[8] Arnold notes this estimate and that there have been further editions since that estimate was made.[10]

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.[11] These themes have made Henty's novels popular today among many conservative Christians and homeschoolers.[10]

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

Henty usually researched his novels by ordering several books on the subject he was writing on from libraries, and consulting them before beginning writing.[11] Some of his books were written about events (such as the Crimean War) that he witnessed himself; hence, these books are written with greater detail as Henty drew upon his first-hand experiences of people, places, and events.[11]

On 16 November 1902, Henty died aboard his yacht in Weymouth Harbour, Dorset, leaving unfinished his last novel, By Conduct and Courage, which was completed by his son Captain C.G. Henty.[10]

Henty is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.[12]

G. A. Henty's commercial popularity encouraged other writers to try writing juvenile adventure stories in his style; "Herbert Strang", Henry Everett McNeil, Percy F. Westerman and Captain Frederick Sadleir Brereton all wrote novels in "the Henty tradition", often incorporating then-contemporary themes such as aviation and First World War combat.[13] By the 1930s, however, interest in Henty's work was declining in Britain, and hence few children's writers there looked to his work as a model.[14]

The cover of the 1902 first edition of To Herat and Cabul, A Story of the First Afghan War by G. A. Henty and illustrations by Charles A. Sheldon, published by Blackie and Son Ltd., London.

Henty wrote 122 works of historical fiction and all first editions had the date printed at the foot of the title page.[15] 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.

A book published in 1884 in the "Fireside Henty Series" called Forest and Frontier was discovered to be by Thomas M. Newson.[16]

UK and US availability

[edit]

In the late 1990s, a number of American publishers, such as Polyglot Press (Philadelphia, PA), PrestonSpeed, and the Lost Classics Book Company, began reprinting Henty's books and advocating their usage for conservative homeschoolers.[17] Reprints of all Henty's works are available from modern day British and American publishers. One such publisher and major modern advocate of Henty is the American scientist (biochemist), homeschool curriculum publisher, and Oregon State Senator Arthur B. Robinson, who promotes the use of Henty's books as a supplement to his self-teaching homeschool curriculum.[18]

Controversial views

[edit]

Henty's views have been contentious; some writers have accused Henty's novels of being aggressively and obstinately nationalist and reactionary in such books as True to the Old Flag (1885) which features a Loyalist protagonist fighting in the American War of Independence,[19] and In the Reign of Terror (1888) and No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendée (1900) which are strongly hostile to the French Revolution.[20][11]

Henty's novel With Lee in Virginia has a protagonist who fights on the side of the Confederacy against the Union.[21]

Henty's popularity amongst homeschoolers is not without controversy.[22] Quoting from the chapter of By Sheer Pluck called "The Negro Character" ("like children"), American television host and political commentator Rachel Maddow called Henty's writings "spectacularly racist".[23][24][25] Carpenter and Pritchard note that while "Henty's work is indeed full of racial (and class) stereotypes", he sometimes created sympathetic ethnic minority characters, such as the Indian servant who marries a white woman in With Clive in India, and point out Henty admired the Turkish Empire. Some even accuse Henty of holding blacks in utter contempt, and this is expressed in novels such as By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War and A Roving Commission, or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti.[11] Kathryne S. McDorman states Henty disliked blacks and also, in Henty's fiction, that "Boers and Jews were considered equally ignoble".[6]

In By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War, Mr. Goodenough, an entomologist remarks to the hero: “They [Negroes] are just like children ... 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.”

In the Preface to his novel A Roving Commission (1900) Henty claims "the condition of the negroes in Hayti has fallen to the level of that of the savage African tribes" and argues "unless some strong white power should occupy the island and enforce law and order" this situation will not change.[26] In the novel Facing Death: A Tale of the Coal Mines Henty comes down against strikes and has the working class hero of the novel, Jack Simpson, quell a strike among coal miners.[27]

A review by Deirdre H. McMahon in Studies of the Novel in 2010 refers to his novels as jingoist and racist and states that during the previous decade "Numerous reviews in right-wing and conservative Christian journals and websites applaud Henty’s texts as model readings and thoughtful presents for children, especially boys. These reviews often ignore Henty’s racism by packaging his version of empire as refreshingly heroic and patriotic."[28]

In 1888, on the bookjacket for Captain Bayley's Heir, The Times wrote that Henty's character in With Lee in Virginia, "bravely proving his sympathy with the slaves of brutal masters" escapes through "the devotion of a black servant and of a runaway slave whom he had assisted". The reviewer recommended the book.[29]

There is one known instance of a book title by Henty having been filmed, along with eleven audio theater productions by Heirloom Audio[31] in their series "The Extraordinary Adventures of G. A. Henty": Under Drake's Flag,[32] With Lee in Virginia,[33] In the Reign of Terror, The Cat of Bubastes, Beric the Briton, The Dragon and the Raven, Wulf the Saxon, Captain Bayley's Heir In Freedom's Cause, St. Bartholomew's Eve, and For the Temple.[34] Heirloom Audio's productions have featured several well-known actors, including Golden Globe winner Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey and Billy Boyd of The Lord of the Rings.[35]

Heirloom Audio was founded by Illinois businessman Bill Heid, who said of Henty, "He took you to places that had great historical significance. It's historical fiction, yet there's very little fiction." Heid said of the characters portrayed in Henty's books and Heirloom Audio's productions, "Who's a real hero? Jay Cutler or Aaron Rodgers, or Francis Drake? Who had the guts, the belief in God's sovereignty? I want to tell the stories that young people think, 'I could imagine doing something like that.' I want them to dream big. There was a time in our country we really had big dreams, thought we could do big things. For some reason, we don't talk like that, take risks like that."[35]

Heid added that too often in schools, "history becomes kind of a data dump, dead guys and dates." But with Henty, "History is anything but boring. It's amazing. William Wallace was a real person, had real struggles of his own. He had hopes and dreams and ambitions, struggles like anyone else, doubts and flaws."[35]

Film

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.

Audio Theatre Productions

• Under Drake's Flag[36] (2013), Heirloom Audio Productions
• In Freedom's Cause[37] (2014), Heirloom Audio Productions
• With Lee in Virginia,[38] Heirloom Audio Productions
• In the Reign of Terror,[39] Heirloom Audio Productions
• The Cat of Bubastes,[40] Heirloom Audio Productions
• Beric the Briton,[41] Heirloom Audio Productions
• The Dragon and the Raven,[42] Heirloom Audio Productions
• Captain Bayley's Heir,[34] Heirloom Audio Productions
• Wulf the Saxon,[34] Heirloom Audio Productions

1. ^ Fenn notes that Henty himself wrote "I spent my boyhood, to the best of my recollection, in bed.[4]: 2

2. ^ It should be remembered that at the time, a popular adult novel might sell as many as 5,000 copies.

3. ^ Almost all Blackie 1st Editions of Henty were published in the year prior to their title page date. This was a common marketing tactic at the time as books remained "fresh" for longer.[30]: 661 See Appendix VII of Newbolt.[30]: 659-660

4. ^ Except where indicated the publication dates are drawn from Newbolt's list of Publication Dates for Blackie Editions.[30]: 659-660

5. ^ This was Henty's first book for children. The four main characters are named after his own children. It was published in 1870 even though the title page says 1871.[30]: 5 This was a common marketing tactic at the time.

6. ^ "Henty, George Alfred". Who's Who 1901: An Annual Biographical Dictionary. London: Adam & Charles Black. 1901. p. 556.

7. ^ Buckingham, James Silk; Sterling, John; Maurice, Frederick Denison; Stebbing, Henry; Dilke, Charles Wentworth; Hervey, Thomas Kibble; Dixon, William Hepworth; MacColl, Norman; Rendall, Vernon Horace; Murry, John Middleton (21 December 1907). "George Alfred Henty". Literature. Athenæum (4182): 792–93.

8. ^ Williamson, Stephen. "George Alfred Henty (1832-1902)". Kent Maps Online. Retrieved 26 August 2022.

9. ^ a b Fenn, George Manville (1907). George Alfred Henty: the story of an active life. London: Blackie and Son. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via The Internet Archive.

10. ^ "Henty, George Alfred (HNTY851GA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

11. ^ a b c Kathryne S. McDorman,"Henty, George Alfred" in Historical Dictionary of the British empire edited by James S. Olson and Robert Shadle. Greenwood Press, 1996 ISBN 0-313-27917-9 (pp. 152–54, Volume 1).

12. ^ Kathryn Castle. Britannia’s children : Reading Colonialism through children’s books and magazines. Manchester University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-7190-2853-1 (p. 55).

13. ^ a b Daart, Robert L. (1971). "Quotation from W. G. Blackie in February 1952". G. A. Henty: A Bibliography. Cedar Grove, NJ: Dar-Web inc. pp. v.

14. ^ Feather, John (2006). "The Age of the Novel". A History of Brith Publishing (Second ed.). London: Routledge.

15. ^ a b c Arnold, Guy (1980). "Preface". Held Fast for England: G. A. Henty, Imperialist Boys Writer. London: Hamish Hamilton.

16. ^ a b c d e Humphrey Carpenter and Mari Prichard,The Oxford Companion to children's literature Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0-19-860228-6 (pp. 244-47).

17. ^ Brompton Cemetery Website Archived 8 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine.

18. ^ Carpenter and Prichard,The Oxford Companion to children's literature, (p. 7).

19. ^ Thwaite, Mary Florence (1963). From Primer to Pleasure: An introduction to the history of children's books in England. Library Association. p. 181.

20. ^ Newbolt, Peter (1996). G.A. Henty 1832–1902: A Bibliographical Study. Scolar Press. ISBN 978-1-85928-208-3.

21. ^ "Minnesota Stories in The "Fireside Henty Series "". Minnesota History. 14: 86–87. 1933.

22. ^ "Henty's Heroes", The Economist, 9 December 1999. Retrieved 26 October 2011.

23. ^ Administrator. "Adventure, Character, History, and Vocabulary - Robinson Books - GA Henty Collection - Adventure Books for Boys". henty.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.

24. ^ Dennis Butts, "Exploiting a Formula: The Adventure Stories of G.A. Henty (1832-1902)" in Popular Children's Literature in Britain. Edited by Julia Briggs, Dennis Butts, and Matthew Orville Grenby. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008. ISBN 978-1-84014-242-6 (pp. 149–64).

25. ^ Butts, 2008.

26. ^ "The English Novelists and the American Civil War", Charles E. Shain, American Quarterly. Vol. 14, No. 3 (Autumn, 1962), (p. 420).

27. ^ Krepel, Terry (28 October 2010). "The Question to Ask About Art Robinson's Love of Racist Novels". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

28. ^ The Rachel Maddow Show, 11 October 2010, Guests: Mark McKinnon, Gov. Ed Rendell, Nola Foulston.

29. ^ "'The Rachel Maddow Show' for Friday, Oct. 8th, 2010". MSNBC. 12 October 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

30. ^ Quotes at By Sheer Pluck (1884) Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, p. 118, via forgotten books.com (2013, London). Retrieved 2015-03-11.

31. ^ Chris Bongie, Friends and enemies: the scribal politics of post/colonial literature Liverpool University Press, 2008, ISBN 1-84631-142-X (p. 140 ).

32. ^ Guy Arnold, Held Fast for England: G.A Henty, Imperialist Boys' Writer. Hamish Hamilton, 1980, ISBN 0-241-10373-8 (p. 21)

33. ^ McMahon, Deirdre H. (Spring–Summer 2010). ""Quick, Ethel, Your Rifle!": Portable Britishness and Flexible Gender Roles in G.A. Henty's Books for Boys". Studies of the Novel. 42 (1 & 2): 154–172. doi:10.1353/sdn.2010.0000. Retrieved 19 April 2013.

34. ^ Henty, GA (1889). Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of California. London.{{[cite book](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fbook "Template:Cite book")}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

35. ^ a b c d Newbolt, Peter (1996). G.A. Henty, 1832-1902 : a bibliographical study of his British editions, with short accounts of his publishers, illustrators and designers, and notes on production methods used for his books. Brookfield, Vt.: Scholar Press. ISBN 1-85928-208-3. Retrieved 4 August 2020 – via The Internet Archive.

36. ^ "Audio Adventures - Heirloom Audio Productions". Heirloomaudio.com. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

37. ^ "Children Today Need Real Heroes - Off The Grid News". Offthegridnews.com. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

38. ^ "The Real Story of Scottish Independence - Off The Grid News". Offthegridnews.com. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

39. ^ a b c "Heirloom AudioProductions". www.heirloomaudio.com. Retrieved 1 April 2018.

40. ^ a b c Turner, Jonathan. "Thomson man brings history to colorful life". Dispatch-Argus-QCOnline. Retrieved 1 April 2018.

41. ^ "Under Drake's Flag". underdrakesflag.com.

42. ^ "In Freedom's Cause - InFreedomsCause.com". infreedomscause.com.

43. ^ "With Lee in Virginia". withleeinvirginia.com.

44. ^ "In the Reign of Terror". inthereignofterror.com.

45. ^ "The Cat of Bubastes". thecatofbubastes.com.

46. ^ "Beric the Briton". bericthebriton.com.

47. ^ "The Dragon and the Raven". thedragonandtheraven.com.

• Works by G. A. Henty at Project Gutenberg
• Works by G. A. Henty at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by or about G. A. Henty at the Internet Archive
• Works by G. A. Henty at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Website of the Henty Society Archived 6 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine
• "G A Henty at the NZETC & Maori and Settler". NZ Electronic Text Centre. 2023.
• Works by and about G. A. Henty at Michigan Digitization Project
• Works about G. A. Henty at BallantyneTheBrave.com
• Alternative article containing additional information
• G.A. Henty Collection Archived 6 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine at the University of South Florida
• Writing style Archived 24 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine
• G. A. Henty at Library of Congress, with 223 library catalogue records