Henry Kingsley (2 January 1830 – 24 May 1876) was an English novelist, brother of the better-known

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...

. He was an early exponent of

muscular Christianity Muscular Christianity is a religious movement that originated in England in the mid-19th century, characterized by a belief in patriotic duty, discipline, self-sacrifice, masculinity, and the moral and physical beauty of Athletics (physical cultur ...

in his 1859 novel '' The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn''.

Life

Kingsley was born at Barnack Rectory,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, the son of the Rev. Charles Kingsley the elder and Mary, ''née'' Lucas. Charles Kingsley came of a long line of clergymen and soldiers. There were several writers in the family besides Henry and Charles, including Mary Kingsley, an explorer and writer, Charlotte Kingsley Chanter, a botanical writer and novelist, and George Kingsley, a traveller and writer. Henry Kingsley's boyhood was spent at

Clovelly Clovelly () is a privately owned harbour village in the Torridge District, Torridge district of Devon, England. The settlement and surrounding land belongs to John Rous, who inherited it from his mother in 1983. He belongs to the Hamlyn family ...

and Chelsea, before attending

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The s ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, and

Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, Oxford, which he left without graduating. An opportune legacy from a relation enabled him to leave Oxford free of debt and emigrate to Australia. He arrived in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in the ''Gauntlet'' in December 1853 with Henry Venables. He became involved in gold-digging, and later joined the

mounted police Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in th ...

. For some time Kingsley had little or no money and carried his swag from station to station. Philip Russell stated in 1887 that he employed Kingsley at his station Langa-Willi, and that ''Geoffry Hamlyn'' (1859) was begun there. Miss Rose Browne, daughter of " Rolf Boldrewood", stated it was on her father's suggestion that Kingsley began to write. Russell's story is confirmed by her further statement that her father gave Kingsley a letter to Mr Mitchell of Langa-Willi, that he stayed with Mitchell, and there wrote ''Geoffry Hamlyn''. Kingsley obelisk

On his return to the UK in 1857, Kingsley devoted himself to literature, and wrote several well-regarded novels, including ''Geoffry Hamlyn'', set in Colebrooke, Devon, and Australia, which the late 19th-century English author

George Gissing George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...

called "unliterary stuff", ''The Hillyars and the Burtons'' (1865), '' Ravenshoe'' (1861) and ''Austin Elliot'' (1863). ''Ravenshoe'' is generally seen as the best. Henry Kingsley married Sarah Maria Haselwood on 19 July 1864. In 1869, he moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

to edit the ''

Daily Review The ''Daily Review'' was a daily newspaper published in Hayward, California. Floyd L. Sparks was owner of the ''Review'' from 1944 to 1985, along with '' The Argus'' of Fremont and the ''Tri-Valley Herald''. It was last owned by Bay Area News ...

'', but soon gave this up and in 1870 became

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

for the paper in the

Franco-German War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Jan ...

. Kingsley also published ''Leighton Court'' (1866), ''Mademoiselle Mathilde'' (1868), ''Tales of Old Travel Re-narrated'' (1869), ''Stretton'' (1869), ''The Boy in Grey'' (1871), ''Hetty and other Stories'' (1871), ''Old Margaret'' (1871), ''Hornby Mills and other Stories'' (1872), ''Valentine'' (1872), ''The Harveys'' (1872), ''Oakshott Castle'' (1873), ''Reginald Hetherege'' (1874), ''Number Seventeen'' (1875), ''The Grange Garden'' (1876), ''Fireside Studies'' (Essays) (1876), and ''The Mystery of the Island'' (1877). Kingsley and his wife moved to

Cuckfield Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northea ...

, Sussex late in 1874, where Kingsley died of cancer of the tongue on 24 May 1876. Kingsley House at

is named after him.

References

;Attribution * *

External links

* *
Henry Kingsley brief bio from National Library of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsley, Henry 19th-century English novelists English emigrants to colonial Australia 1830 births 1876 deaths People educated at King's College School, London Alumni of King's College London People from Barnack Deaths from oral cancer Deaths from cancer in England English male novelists Victorian novelists Burials in West Sussex

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

English male short story writers English war correspondents English essayists 19th-century English male writers Victorian short story writers 19th-century English short story writers 19th-century English essayists English male essayists Writers from Northamptonshire Sensation novelists

Life

Further reading

References

External links