Henley, William Ernest

(1849-1903)

   He was born and educated in Gloucester, where he was the pupil of Thomas Edward Brown (see entry). Tuberculosis necessitated the amputation of one foot in 1867, then in 1873 he underwent surgery at Edinburgh under Dr. Joseph Lister and was hospitalized for almost a year. Out of his experience he wrote Invictus (1875) and a series of poems, Hospital Outlines (1875). He and R.L. Stevenson (see entry) became friends and collaborated in writing four plays, none of which was successful. He worked on the staff of the Encyclopædia Britannica and edited the Scots Observer of Edinburgh, the London, the Pen, and Magazine of Art. In 1893 he received the degree of doctor of laws from St. Andrews University. He died at Woking, Surrey, and his ashes were taken to Cockayne Hatley, Bedfordshire. Some of his other publications: A Book of Verses, 1888. The Song of the Sword and Other Verses, 1892. London Voluntaries, 1893. In Hospital, 1903. Some of his poems: "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," "At Queensferry," "Attadale, West Highlands," "From a Window in Princes Street," "Over the Hills and Far Away," "To Robert Louis Stevenson."

   Sources: A Century of Humorous Verse, 1850-1950. Roger Lancelyn Green, ed. E.P. Dutton (Everyman's Library), 1959. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Poems of William Ernest Henley. AMS Press, Inc., 1970. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).