G. A. Henty


George Alfred Henty or G.A. Henty as he is commonly known as was an English writer who was prolific in writing children books based on historical adventure stories. For most of us born in the 20th century we might not be familiar with this name but George Henty contributed to a lot of best-selling novels by the time he died in the early 19th century.

George was born on 8 December 1832 in Trumpington, Cambridge. As a small lad, George first showed his interest in books by reading a collection of children books at that tender age. Through his reading George Henty sparked his interest in the field of books; this enthusiasm he carried up to his adulthood.

When George joined the University, his writing skills came to surface. George Henty left the campus before completing his program to serve as a volunteer in the Army Hospital Commissariat. This was during the Crimean war that had erupted at the time. As a volunteer, George was posted to Crimean right in the battlefield where the action happened. Here George witnessed the gruesome fighting conditions the soldiers were subjected to; immediately he wrote letters back home describing the ghastly conditions the soldiers at the war front were in.

George’s father noticed something exceptional in the way he wrote and decided to forward the letters to their local newspaper, ‘The Morning Advertiser’. The newspaper agency was impressed with the letters and published them; George came to be employed as a Special Correspondent for the newspaper during the war. His journey as a successful writer had begun.

Through the 1850’s, George had the privilege of writing for popular newspapers like, The Standard Newspaper. The newspaper agency afterward sent G.A. Henty as a correspondent to the Austro-Italian war in 1866. While working as a correspondent George went on to cover stories for wars like the Franco-Prussian War, Turco-Serbian War and The Carlist Rebellion among others.

George’s storytelling skills flourished more by telling his children tales during dinner times. By 1868, his storytelling prowess earned him his first book ‘Out on the Pampas’ in which he gave the main characters of the story the names of his children. This book became officially published in November 1870 by Griffith and Farran publishers.

George Henty’s children stories were centered on a small boy or a youngster who lived in difficult times. The backdrops of the stories were based on wars like the Punic War, The Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War. The heroes in the stories were mainly young females who were smart, brave, and truthful in their doings. George’s books had a lot of teachings in them and have been popular even in today’s world where they are applied in Christian and home-based education.

Before his untimely death in 16 November 1902, G.A. Henty had written over 122 children books all having a historical adventure background with a lot of moral teachings. George never limited himself to children books; he went on to write adult favorites like the ‘March to Magdala’, and ‘Those other animals’. He even wrote adult short stories like ‘The Boys Own Paper’ and also worked as an editor for a weekly boy’s magazine, ‘The Union Jack.’

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