Home > Charles Kingsley

He was born in Devon, the son of a vicar. His brother, Henry Kingsley, also became a novelist. Charles spent his childhood in Clovelly, Devon and was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before himself going in for the church. From 1844, he was rector of Eversley in Hampshire, and in 1860, he was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is the second-oldest academic institution in the English-speaking world (after Oxford). According to legend, the University was founded in 1209 by scholars escaping Oxford after a fight with locals. Cambridge and the University. His interest in history spilled over into his writings, which include The Heroes ( 1856Events January 8 Borax is discovered ( John Veatch). January 29 Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross February 18 The American Party ( Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former Presi), a children's book about Greek mythologyGreek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods and goddesses and ancient heroes and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. Our surviving sources of mythology are either transcriptions of this spoken word, o, and several historical novels, of which the best known are Hypatia ( 1853Events January 19 Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres in Rome January 21 Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope folding machine January 29 Napoleon III marries the Spanish Countess Eugenie at the Tuileries March 4 Inauguration of US president Fra), Hereward the WakeHereward the Wake was an 11th century English, Anglo Saxon, leader who led resistance to the Norman Conquest and was consequently labelled an outlaw. According to legend, Hereward's base was the Isle of Ely and he roamed the surrounding fenlands leading p ( 18651865 is a common year starting on Sunday. Events January 31 American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief. February 17 American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forc), and Westward Ho! ( 1855Events Births January 5 King Camp Gillette, inventor († 1932) January 21 John Moses Browning, inventor († 1926) January 28 William Seward Burroughs, inventor of the calculator († 1898) March 13 Percival Lowell, astronomer († 19). Kingsley's concern for social reform is illustrated in his great classic, The Water-Babies ( 1863), a kind of fairytale about a boy chimney-sweep, which retained its popularity well into the 20th century.

Kingsley also wrote poetry and political articles, as well as several volumes of sermons. His argument, in print, with John Henry Newman is said to have prompted the latter to produce his Apologia Pro Vita Sua. Kingsley died in 1875, a widely respected figure.

As a novelist his chief power lay in his descriptive faculties. The descriptions of South American scenery in Westward Ho!, of the Egyptian desert in Hypatia, of the North Devon scenery in Two Years Ago, are among the most brilliant pieces of wordpainting in English prose-writing; and the American scenery is even more vividly and more truthfully described when he had seen it only by the eye of his imagination than in his work At Last, which was written after he had visited the tropics. His sympathy for children taught him how to secure their interests. His version of the old Greek stories entitled The Heroes, and Water-babies and Madam How and Lady Why, in which he deals with popular natural history, take high rank among books for children.

In person Charles Kingsley was tall and spare, sinewy rather than powerful, and of a restless excitable temperament. His complexion was swarthy, his hair dark, and his eye bright and piercing. His temper was hot, kept under rigid control; his disposition tender, gentle and loving, with flashing scorn and indignation against all that was ignoble and impure; he was a good husband, father and friend. One of his daughters, Mary St Leger Kingsley (Mrs Harrison), became well known as a novelist under the pseudonym of "Lucas Malet."

Kingsley's life was written by his widow in 1877, entitled Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life, and presents a very touching and beautiful picture of her husband, but perhaps hardly does justice to his humour, his wit, his overflowing vitality and boyish fun.