Herbert,_Henry_William

Herbert, Henry William [”Frank Forester”] (1807-1858), English novelist and writer on sport, son of the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert, dean of Manchester, a son of the first earl of Carnarvon, was born in London on the 3rd of April 1807. He was educated at Eton and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1830. Having become involved in debt, he emigrated to America, and from 1831 to 1839 was teacher of Greek in a private school in New York. In 1833 he started the American Monthly Magazine, which he edited, in conjunction with A. D. Patterson, till 1835. In 1834 he published his first novel, The Brothers: a Tale of the Fronde, which was followed by a number of others which obtained a certain degree of popularity. He also wrote a series of historical studies, including The Cavaliers of England (1852), The Knights of England, France and Scotland (1852), The Chevaliers of France (1853), and The Captains of the Old World (1851); but he is best known for his works on sport, published under the pseudonym of “Frank Forester.” These include The Field Sports of the United States and British Provinces (1849), Frank Forester and his Friends (1849), The Fish and Fishing of the United States (1850), The Young Sportsman’s Complete Manual (1852), and The Horse and Horsemanship in the United States and British Provinces of North America (1858). He also translated many of the novels of Eugene Sue and Alexandre Dumas. Herbert was a man of varied accomplishments, but of somewhat dissipated habits. He died by his own hand in New York on the 17th of May 1858.

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