Charles Godfrey Haggas Cutcliffe Hyne Nancy Mildred Cutcliffe Hyne
Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne (11 May 1866 – 10 March 1944) was an English[2] novelist who was also known by the pen nameWeatherby Chesney. He is perhaps best remembered as the author ofThe Lost Continent: The Story of Atlantis. He is also remembered for his Captain Kettle stories and forThe Recipe for Diamonds.
Hyne was born 11 May 1866. He was married to Mary Elizabeth Haggas (died 1938). They had a son named Charles Godfrey Haggas Cutcliffe Hyne (1 December 1897 – 21 November 1916), who was wounded in theBattle of the Somme and died from his wounds. They also had a daughter, Nancy Mildred Cutcliffe Hyne (1902–1999).
Captain Kettle first appeared as a side character in the novelHonour of Thieves (1895). His first appearance as a main character was in the short story 'Stealing a President' in vol 1, issue 6 ofPearson's Magazine (1896). This initial short story was followed in 1897 by a series of twelve short stories again inPearson's Magazine that were later collected and published asAdventures of Captain Kettle. Over the next four years two more sets of twelve stories were published inPearson's Magazine and subsequently collected asFurther Adventures of Captain Kettle ("A master of fortune" in the US) andCaptain Kettle K.C.B. respectively.
The character of Captain Kettle was one of action and decision. He is said to be based on a South Shields sea captain, Davey Proffit, whose physical appearance closely matched the descriptions in the books, but Cutcliffe Hyne insisted emphatically that this was not the case. However, the most enduring image of Kettle was created byStanley L. Wood, who provided the illustrations forPearson's Magazine; they were reprinted in the first book compilations of the stories. He found 'the exact spit and image of our little sailor, pulling beer behind a bar' in a pub in north London.[3] This is noteworthy because Wood's Captain Kettle bears a striking resemblance (particularly in his stance, the set of the head on the shoulders, his beard and the characteristic gaze) to the novelistJoseph Conrad, also a sailor. Among the people who saw this remarkable similarity wasH. G. Wells, whoseWar of the Worlds appeared inPearson's in instalments, alternating with the Captain Kettle stories. Conrad met Wells at just this time, readPearson's, and borrowed whole phrases, key episodes, and images from the Kettle stories forHeart of Darkness.[4]Cutcliffe Hyne would probably have been forgotten but for the American science fiction fans such as Sprague de Camp. They republishedThe Lost Continent without permission, possible because of the then American copyright law, which led to the republishing of his other stories.
