born July 10, 1792, London, Eng.
died Aug. 9, 1848, Langham, Norfolk
English naval officer and novelist.
He served in the Royal Navy from age 14 until he retired in 1830 as a captain. He then began a series of adventure novels
including The King's Own (1830), Peter Simple (1834), and Poor Jack (1840)
marked by a lucid, direct narrative style, humour, and incidents drawn from his varied experience at sea. His Children of the New Forest (1847), set during the English Civil Wars, is a classic of children's literature.