born June 22, 1856, Bradenham, Norfolk, Eng.
died May 14, 1925, London
British novelist.
After holding a series of official posts in South Africa (187581), he began writing stories set in Africa. Of his 34 colourful adventure novels, the best-known is King Solomon's Mines (1885); others include She (1887), Allan Quatermain (1887), Cleopatra (1889), and Ayesha (1905). Also a farmer, he wrote A Farmer's Year (1899) and Rural England (2 vol., 1902), and he was knighted in 1912 for his work on agricultural commissions.