H. Rider Haggard | |
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 Haggard,c. 1905 | |
| Born | Henry Rider Haggard (1856-06-22)22 June 1856 |
| Died | 14 May 1925(1925-05-14) (aged 68) Marylebone, London, England |
| Resting place | St. Mary's Church,Ditchingham, Norfolk, England |
| Occupation | Novelist, scholar |
| Period | 19th and 20th century |
| Genre | Adventure,fantasy,fables, romance,sci-fi,historical |
| Subject | Africa, Ancient Egypt |
| Notable works | King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain series, She |
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Sir Henry Rider HaggardKBE (/ˈhæɡərd/; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer ofadventure fictionromances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of thelost world literary genre.[1] He was also involved inland reform throughout theBritish Empire.[2] His stories, situated at the lighter end ofVictorian literature and including the eighteenAllan Quatermain stories beginning withKing Solomon's Mines, continue to be popular and influential.
Henry Rider Haggard, generally known as H. Rider Haggard or Rider Haggard, was born atBradenham, Norfolk, the eighth of ten children, to William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and Ella Doveton, an author and poet.[3] His father was born inSaint Petersburg, Russia, in 1817 to British parents.[4]
A member of theHaggard family, he was the great-nephew of the ecclesiastical lawyerJohn Haggard and an uncle of the naval officer Admiral SirVernon Haggard and the diplomat SirGodfrey Haggard.[5]
Haggard was initially sent toGarsington Rectory in Oxfordshire to study underReverend H. J. Graham, but, unlike his elder brothers, who graduated from variousprivate schools, he attendedIpswich Grammar School.[6] This was because[7] his father, who perhaps regarded him as somebody who was not going to amount to much,[8] could no longer afford to maintain his expensive private education. After failing his armyentrance exam, he was sent to a privatecrammer in London to prepare for the entrance exam for theBritish Foreign Office,[6] which he never sat. During his two years in London he came into contact with people interested in the study ofpsychic phenomena.[9]
In 1875, Haggard's father sent him to what is now South Africa to take up an unpaid position as assistant to the secretary toSir Henry Bulwer, Lieutenant-Governor of theColony of Natal.[10] In 1876, he was transferred to the staff of SirTheophilus Shepstone, Special Commissioner for the Transvaal. It was in this role that Haggard was present inPretoria in April 1877 for the official announcement of the British annexation of theBoer Republic of theTransvaal. Indeed, Haggard raised theUnion flag and read out much of theproclamation following the loss of voice of the official originally entrusted with the duty.[11]
At about that time, Haggard fell in love with Mary Elizabeth "Lilly" Jackson, whom he intended to marry once he obtained paid employment in Africa. In 1878, he became Registrar of the High Court in the Transvaal, and wrote to his father informing him that he intended to return to England and marry her. His father forbade it until Haggard had made a career for himself, and by 1879 Jackson had married Frank Archer, a well-to-do banker. When Haggard eventually returned to England, he married a friend of his sister, Marianna Louisa Margitson (1859–1943) in 1880, and the couple travelled to Africa together. They had a son named Jack (born 1881, died ofmeasles at age 10) and three daughters, Angela (1883-1973), Dorothy (1884-1946) and Lilias (1892-1968).Lilias Rider Haggard became an author, editedThe Rabbit Skin Cap andI Walked By Night, and wrote a biography of her father entitledThe Cloak That I Left (published in 1951).
Moving back to England in 1882, the couple settled inDitchingham, Norfolk, Louisa Margitson's ancestral home. Later they lived inKessingland and had connections with the church inBungay, Suffolk. Haggard turned to the study of law and wascalled to the bar in 1884. His practice of law was desultory and much of his time was taken up by the writing of novels, which he saw as being more profitable. Haggard lived at 69 Gunterstone Road inHammersmith, London, from mid-1885 to circa April 1888. It was at this Hammersmith address that he completedKing Solomon's Mines (published September 1885).[12]
Haggard was heavily influenced by the larger-than-life adventurers whom he met incolonial Africa, most notablyFrederick Selous andFrederick Russell Burnham. He created hisAllan Quatermain adventures under their influence, during a time when great mineral wealth was being discovered in Africa, as well as the ruins of ancient lost civilisations of the continent such asGreat Zimbabwe.[13][14]
Three of his books,The Wizard (1896),Black Heart and White Heart; a Zulu Idyll (1896), andElissa; the Doom of Zimbabwe (1898), are dedicated to Burnham's daughter Nada, thefirst white child born inBulawayo; she had been named after Haggard's 1892 bookNada the Lily.[15] Haggard belonged to theAthenaeum,Savile, andAuthors' clubs.[16]
Years later, when Haggard was a successful novelist, he was contacted by his former love, Lilly Archer, née Jackson. She had been deserted by her husband, who had embezzled funds entrusted to him and had fled bankrupt to Africa. Haggard installed her and her sons in a house and saw to the children's education. Lilly eventually followed her husband to Africa, where he infected her withsyphilis before dying of it himself. Lilly returned to England in late 1907, where Haggard again supported her until her death on 22 April 1909. These details were not generally known until the publication of Haggard's 1981 biography by Sydney Higgins.[17]
After returning to England in 1882, Haggard published a book on the political situation in South Africa, as well as a handful of unsuccessful novels,[18] before writingKing Solomon's Mines. He accepted a 10 percent royalty rather than £100 for the copyright.[19]
A sequel soon followed entitledAllan Quatermain, followed byShe and its sequelAyesha,swashbucklingadventure novels set in the context of theScramble for Africa (although the action ofAyesha happens inTibet). The hugely popularKing Solomon's Mines is sometimes considered the first of theLost World genre.[20]She is generally considered to be one of the classics of imaginative literature,[21][22] and with 83 million copies sold by 1965, it is one of thebest-selling books in history.[23] He also wroteNada the Lily (a tale of adventure among theZulus) and the epicViking romanceEric Brighteyes.
His novels portray many of the stereotypes associated withcolonialism, yet they are unusual for the degree of sympathy with which the native populations are portrayed. Africans often play heroic roles in the novels, although the protagonists are typically European. Notable examples are the heroic Zulu warrior Umslopogaas, and Ignosi, the rightful king of Kukuanaland, inKing Solomon's Mines. Having developed an intense mutual friendship with the three Englishmen who help him regain his throne, he accepts their advice and abolishes witch-hunts and arbitrary capital punishment.
Three of Haggard's novels[which?] were written in collaboration with his friendAndrew Lang, who shared his interest in the spiritual realm and paranormal phenomena.[citation needed]
Haggard also wrote about agricultural and social reform, in part inspired by his experiences in Africa, but also based on what he saw in Europe. At the end of his life, he was a staunch opponent ofBolshevism, a position that he shared with his friendRudyard Kipling. The two had bonded upon Kipling's arrival at London in 1889, largely on the strength of their shared opinions, and remained lifelong friends.[24]
Haggard was involved in reforming agriculture and was a member of many commissions on land use and related affairs, work that involved several trips to theColonies and Dominions.[25] It eventually led to the passage of theDevelopment and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909.[26]
He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as aConservative candidate for theEastern division of Norfolk in the 1895 summer election, losing by 197 votes.[27]He was appointed aKnight Bachelor in 1912 and a Knight Commander of theOrder of the British Empire (KBE) in the1919 New Year Honours.[28][29]
Sir Rider Haggard died on 14 May 1925 inMarylebone,London, aged 68.[30][1] His ashes were buried at St Mary's Church, Ditchingham.[31] His papers are held at theNorfolk Record Office.[32][33] His relatives include the writerStephen Haggard (great-nephew), the directorPiers Haggard (great-great-nephew), and the actressDaisy Haggard (great-great-great-niece).[34]
PsychoanalystCarl Jung considered Ayesha, the female protagonist ofShe, to be a manifestation of theanima.[35] Herepithet "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is used by British authorJohn Mortimer in hisRumpole of the Bailey series as the lead character's private name for his wife, Hilda, before whom he trembles at home (despite the fact that he is a barrister with some skill in court). Haggard'sLost World genre influenced popular American and Englishpulp writers such asEdgar Rice Burroughs,Robert E. Howard,Talbot Mundy,Philip José Farmer, andAbraham Merritt.[36]Allan Quatermain, the adventure hero of eighteen novels and short stories beginning withKing Solomon's Mines (1885), was a template for the American characterIndiana Jones.[37][38][39] Quatermain has gained recent popularity thanks to being a main character inThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series andmovie.
Graham Greene, in an essay about Haggard, stated, "Enchantment is just what this writer exercised; he fixed pictures in our minds that thirty years have been unable to wear away."[40] Haggard was praised in 1965 byRoger Lancelyn Green, one of theOxfordInklings, as a writer of a consistently high level of "literary skill and sheer imaginative power" and a co-originator withRobert Louis Stevenson of theAge of the Story Tellers.[41]
Rider Haggard's works have been criticised for their depictions of non-Europeans. In his non-fiction bookDecolonising the Mind, Kenyan authorNgũgĩ wa Thiong'o refers to Haggard, who he says was one of the canonical authors in primary and secondary school, as one of the "geniuses of racism."[42] Author and academicMicere Mugo wrote in 1973 that reading the description of "an old African woman in Rider Haggard'sKing Solomon's Mines had for a long time made her feel mortal terror whenever she encountered old African women."[42]
During the 19th century, Haggard was one of many individuals who contributed to children's literature.Morton N. Cohen describedKing Solomon's Mines as a story that has "universal interest, for grown-ups as well as youngsters".[43] Haggard himself wanted to write the book for boys, but it ultimately had an influence on children and adults around the world. Cohen explained, "King Solomon’s Mines was being read in the public schools [and] aloud in class-rooms".[43]
The first chapter of Haggard's bookPeople of the Mist is credited with inspiring the motto of theRoyal Air Force (formerly theRoyal Flying Corps),Per ardua ad astra.[44]
In 1925, his daughter Lilias commissioned a memorial window for Ditchingham Church, in his honour, fromJames Powell and Sons.[45] The design features the Pyramids, his farm in Africa, and Bungay as seen from the Vineyard Hills near his home.[45]
The Rider Haggard Society was founded in 1985. It publishes theHaggard Journal three times a year.[46]
Haggard's writings have been turned into films many times including:
The filmDawn was released in 1917, starringHubert Carter andAnnie Esmond.
The 1917 American filmCleopatra was based on Haggard's novel and other sources.
The book was adapted into a 1921 Italiansilentdrama film calledThe Stronger Passion,[50] directed byHerbert Brenon and starringMarie Doro andSandro Salvini.[51]
The novel was adapted into a 1922 South African film.[52]
This novel was the basis of a script byLadislaus Vajda, for film-directorMichael Curtiz in his 1924 Austrian epic known asDie Sklavenkönigin (Queen of the Slaves).[54]
The locality ofRider, British Columbia, was named after him.Rider Haggard Lane inKessingland, Suffolk, is the location of his former home.
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