William Henry Giles Kingston (1814–1880)
Author of Rescue at the Eleventh Hour
About the Author
Works by William Henry Giles Kingston
Manco: the Peruvian chief; or, An Englishman's adventures in the country of the Incas (1923) 10 copies
Blow the Bugle, Draw the Sword: The Wars, Campaigns, Regiments and Soldiers of the British & Indian Armies During the Victorian Era, 1839-1898 (2007) 3 copies, 1 review
True Blue 2 copies
Ernest Bracebridge School Days 2 copies
"Boy With the U. S. Survey" 2 copies
Waihoura, the Maori Girl 2 copies
Owen Hartley; or, Ups and Downs 2 copies
"Anxious Audrey" 2 copies
The Secret of the Island 2 copies
"Archie's Mistake" 2 copies
"America First" 2 copies
True Blue 1 copy
In the Forest 1 copy
Wonders of the Ocean 1 copy
Victoria's Blue Jackets & Marines: the Royal Navy During Queen Victoria's Reign 1839-1901 (2010) 1 copy
The trapper's son 1 copy
Man Overboard (short story) 1 copy
STORIES OF ANIMAL SAGACITY 1 copy
Ernest Bracebridge 1 copy
The rival Crusoes 1 copy
Salvos do Mar e do Deserto 1 copy
Abandoned (A Sci Fi Novel) 1 copy
Adventures in India 1 copy
The Trapper's Son 1 copy
The Rival Crusoes 1 copy
Count Ulrich of Lindburg 1 copy
De tre midshipmen 1 copy
Victoria's Blue Jackets & Marines: The Royal Navy During Queen Victoria's Reign 1839-1901 (2010) 1 copy
VIRGINIA: A CENTENNIAL STORY 1 copy
Ao longo do Amazonas 1 copy
Schoolboy Days 1 copy
Salvado del mar 1 copy
Associated Works
Cetus Insolitus: Sea Serpents, Giant Cephalopods, and Other Marine Monsters in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy (2008) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Kingston, William Henry Giles
- Birthdate
- 1814-02-28
- Date of death
- 1880-08-05
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Cambridge (Trinity College)
- Occupations
- adventure writer
editor - Awards and honors
- Donna Maria da Gloria (1842)
- Relationships
- Kingston, Agnes Kinloch (wife)
- Nationality
- England
UK - Birthplace
- Harley Street, City of Westminster, Middlesex, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Oporto, Portugal
- Place of death
- Willesden, Middlesex, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- Middlesex, England, UK
Members
Reviews
Seven Champions is a romance in the original meaning. All the characters (St George, St Dennis, St Patrick, St David, St Anthony, St Andrew, St James, are noble knights in the best Arthurian tradition. (This novel isn't set in Arthur's court, but he'd have taken on any of the Seven Champions in an instant) They can hew the heads of monsters with a single stroke of their swords. They meet enchantresses, good fairies, save maidens from danger, travel to exotic cities with walls of silver and show more streets of tin. They eat magical banquets with wondrous foods and seek adventure in the best fashion.
The descriptive text is colourful and as vivid as a computer game.
I read Mallory's 'Morte d'Arthur' and gave up half way through from boredom.
'Seven Champions' is far more fun. It has no historical accuracy whatever, plays fast and loose with geography (though a real place name does creep in on occasion when it sounds exotic enough - Saint George visits Timbuktu), and doesn't take itself too seriously.
If you want to read a fairy tale set in the days when men were real men, princesses were real princesses and small green things from Alpha Centuri were real small green things from Alpha Centauri (I may be lying about this last bit), then go and read Seven Champions.
(but remember that it was originally written over 400 years ago and will thus not always be politically correct) show less
The descriptive text is colourful and as vivid as a computer game.
I read Mallory's 'Morte d'Arthur' and gave up half way through from boredom.
'Seven Champions' is far more fun. It has no historical accuracy whatever, plays fast and loose with geography (though a real place name does creep in on occasion when it sounds exotic enough - Saint George visits Timbuktu), and doesn't take itself too seriously.
If you want to read a fairy tale set in the days when men were real men, princesses were real princesses and small green things from Alpha Centuri were real small green things from Alpha Centauri (I may be lying about this last bit), then go and read Seven Champions.
(but remember that it was originally written over 400 years ago and will thus not always be politically correct) show less
Plot: This is the start of a series of four books following three young friends through their career in the British navy. Terence, Jack and Alick first meet at a boarding school, and become fast friends, not least because together they stand up to the school bullies. Soon, they leave school and join the navy together. Sometimes they serve in the same ship, sometimes in different ones, but their careers are interwoven. In the Levant, in West Africa and in China, they live adventures involving show more sea battles, storms, and pirates. They have a way of allowing their paths to cross in order to look after one another.
The other books in the series are The Three Lieutenants, The Three Commanders and The Three Admirals. Although they follow the same characters as they are promoted, they can be read independently, because they are more or less episodic. In this first book, the characters are midshipmen, the most junior officers, being barely out of childhood, and the book ends with their promotion to lieutenants.
This is the second book by W. H. G. Kingston that I read, the previous one being Adrift on a Boat. this novel is much longer than Adrift on a Boat, but my impression is somewhat similar. Kingston's strengths are a fast pace, always full of action and heroism, and a readable style.
On the other hand, his stories seem to be superficial. He doesn't give his characters much individuality, which makes it difficult to care for what happens to them. Murray is a bit more thoughtful and religious, but mostly the three heroes are interchangeable. The characters are all brave and go into battle cheerfully. Apart from a few moments of comic relief, the fast pace doesn't allow for much quiet time to appreciate what it is like, living in a navy ship.
Since the characters are not in command of their ships, the occasion for them to distinguish themselves is when on independent missions, either on a boat that they may command or on land. Because of this, most of the novel is one of these independent mission after the other. They are always on a boat, boarding some enemy, or pirate or slaver ship, or on land assaulting some fortification or rescuing prisoners. The action really is continuous.
Kingston's writing is also quite jingoistic. In his stories, the British Navy is idealized, and its seamen are noble and brave, and foreigners are usually uncivilized and/or ridiculous.
All in all, a story that did well enough to entertain its young audience in the second part of the 19th century, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to modern readers, unless they are very keen on Victorian naval adventure novels. I think there are other adventure novels of the same time that have stood the test of time better.
In his Foreword to Treasure Island (a better novel than this one), Robert Louis Stevenson cited Kingston among his predecessors, along with R. M. Ballantyne and James Fenimore Cooper:
I'm not sure whether the wise youngsters of the 21st century still read Stevenson, or if they read at all, but I'm sure Kingston is mostly forgotten, as the vast majority of our current young adult literature will be forgotten in turn. This book is fine for what it is, but it's not high in the list of old novels that merit rediscovery by new generations. show less
The other books in the series are The Three Lieutenants, The Three Commanders and The Three Admirals. Although they follow the same characters as they are promoted, they can be read independently, because they are more or less episodic. In this first book, the characters are midshipmen, the most junior officers, being barely out of childhood, and the book ends with their promotion to lieutenants.
This is the second book by W. H. G. Kingston that I read, the previous one being Adrift on a Boat. this novel is much longer than Adrift on a Boat, but my impression is somewhat similar. Kingston's strengths are a fast pace, always full of action and heroism, and a readable style.
On the other hand, his stories seem to be superficial. He doesn't give his characters much individuality, which makes it difficult to care for what happens to them. Murray is a bit more thoughtful and religious, but mostly the three heroes are interchangeable. The characters are all brave and go into battle cheerfully. Apart from a few moments of comic relief, the fast pace doesn't allow for much quiet time to appreciate what it is like, living in a navy ship.
Since the characters are not in command of their ships, the occasion for them to distinguish themselves is when on independent missions, either on a boat that they may command or on land. Because of this, most of the novel is one of these independent mission after the other. They are always on a boat, boarding some enemy, or pirate or slaver ship, or on land assaulting some fortification or rescuing prisoners. The action really is continuous.
Kingston's writing is also quite jingoistic. In his stories, the British Navy is idealized, and its seamen are noble and brave, and foreigners are usually uncivilized and/or ridiculous.
All in all, a story that did well enough to entertain its young audience in the second part of the 19th century, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to modern readers, unless they are very keen on Victorian naval adventure novels. I think there are other adventure novels of the same time that have stood the test of time better.
In his Foreword to Treasure Island (a better novel than this one), Robert Louis Stevenson cited Kingston among his predecessors, along with R. M. Ballantyne and James Fenimore Cooper:
TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER
If sailor tales to sailor tunes,
Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
If schooners, islands, and maroons,
And buccaneers, and buried gold,
And all the old romance, retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of today:
—So be it, and fall on! If not,
If studious youth no longer crave,
His ancient appetites forgot,
Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,
Or Cooper of the wood and wave:
So be it, also! And may I
And all my pirates share the grave
Where these and their creations lie!
I'm not sure whether the wise youngsters of the 21st century still read Stevenson, or if they read at all, but I'm sure Kingston is mostly forgotten, as the vast majority of our current young adult literature will be forgotten in turn. This book is fine for what it is, but it's not high in the list of old novels that merit rediscovery by new generations. show less
Australian Adventures, also known as Adventures in Australia is set in the early colonial period of Australia, approximately 1825-1880, we know this as referenced within the story are 'Morrison's Pills' which were invented in 1825, and the upper limit of 1880 being the year of Mr Kingston's death.
It's the story of 2 young men who come out to Australia to meet their uncle on his cattle station, the location of the station is not mentioned although one can assume it is set in Northern New show more South Wales due to the mention of an aboriginal climbing a palm tree to catch a possum. The illustration for such appears to depict an Alexandra Palm which is found in sub-tropical & tropical New South Wales (Queensland did not exist until 1859 - it was just New South Wales prior).
During the journey inland to the uncle's cattle station the men come across a man who has been robbed & tied up by bushrangers, assist him in reaching his squatter's station, almost get robbed by bushrangers themselves, befriend some aboriginals, kill & fight some other aboriginals, get attacked by bushrangers & also attack said bushrangers back to steal back their horses & guns.
It's not a bad book, certainly paints a vivid picture of colonial Australia, although those easily offended by past viewpoints may find the books reference to Aboriginal Australian's as blacks, natives, savages & poor wretches to be distasteful.
It's also interesting that there is an error in the book - one part mentions the need to bury dead bodies with haste lest the dingoes & vultures find them, however Australia is one of two continents in the world that do not have vultures (the other being Antarctica). This book was, I believe, original published in 1885, 5 years after the passing of Mr Kingston so I find myself wondering if this was a mistake on his part, or a mistake inserted posthumously by an editor cleaning up unpublished stories for publication (he was a prolific writer having written 130 stories in his 36 year writing career).
Part of the George Routledge Every Boy's Library along with Adventures in Africa, Adventures in the Far West, Adventures in India, Arctic Adventures. show less
It's the story of 2 young men who come out to Australia to meet their uncle on his cattle station, the location of the station is not mentioned although one can assume it is set in Northern New show more South Wales due to the mention of an aboriginal climbing a palm tree to catch a possum. The illustration for such appears to depict an Alexandra Palm which is found in sub-tropical & tropical New South Wales (Queensland did not exist until 1859 - it was just New South Wales prior).
During the journey inland to the uncle's cattle station the men come across a man who has been robbed & tied up by bushrangers, assist him in reaching his squatter's station, almost get robbed by bushrangers themselves, befriend some aboriginals, kill & fight some other aboriginals, get attacked by bushrangers & also attack said bushrangers back to steal back their horses & guns.
It's not a bad book, certainly paints a vivid picture of colonial Australia, although those easily offended by past viewpoints may find the books reference to Aboriginal Australian's as blacks, natives, savages & poor wretches to be distasteful.
It's also interesting that there is an error in the book - one part mentions the need to bury dead bodies with haste lest the dingoes & vultures find them, however Australia is one of two continents in the world that do not have vultures (the other being Antarctica). This book was, I believe, original published in 1885, 5 years after the passing of Mr Kingston so I find myself wondering if this was a mistake on his part, or a mistake inserted posthumously by an editor cleaning up unpublished stories for publication (he was a prolific writer having written 130 stories in his 36 year writing career).
Part of the George Routledge Every Boy's Library along with Adventures in Africa, Adventures in the Far West, Adventures in India, Arctic Adventures. show less
I found this in my Oxfam bookstore. Long ago, as a child, I read "Voyage of the Dainty" by the same author - a hand me down from my grandfather who was vaguely related to the author. But this is the first time I have managed to find another of his many books since then. The author was a prolific chidlren's writer in the late Victorian era. His works have not endured, and they are rightly not considered "classics". But that dod not mean this was not a very interesting read.
The book is about a show more boy who is taken on a sailing voyage around the World by his father. The ship they sail on must have been the most pious one in the British Isles, judging by the way the captain and crew conduct themselves.
The book is highly didactic. On the voyage across the atlantic we are allowed to listen in on lectures on trade winds, ocean currents, the gulf stream, the Sargasso sea and such like. There is a good deal of meteorological explanation, which is not surprising as the writer was brother to George Kingston, the father of Canadian meteorology.
We also have some wonderful descriptions of all the places that are visited by the ship. We learn why the British settled the Falklan Islands, what life was like in Chile at that time (allegedly) and such like. We see the effects of the California gold rush and tour the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), with a wonderful spelling of some of the island names. And it goes on - but it takes 250 pages to get to any great adventure (when the ship is taken by pirates). There are many smaller adventures first of course, including a volcanic eruption (of course! that always happens when you visit Hawaii).
All in all this book is wonderful - not because of its storyline, nor because of its characterisations (are there any? I am not sure!) but because of what it represents: an archetypal late victorian Boy's Own adventure.
It is full of cultural assumptions and references that are both amusing and enlightening on the victorian mind set. It is not a particularly "politically correct" book, but on the other hand it is clearly attempting to foster knowledge, understanding and compassion in the minds of its readers. It will also do a great deal to educate anyone interested in the period about the world at that time. And occasionally it will simply amuse (I grinned at the aprobation given to Sandwich islands for cooling themselves when they have a fever - thus "closing their pores and hastening their deaths").
All in all a worthwhile read should you happen to find a copy, although unlikely ever to be republished. show less
The book is about a show more boy who is taken on a sailing voyage around the World by his father. The ship they sail on must have been the most pious one in the British Isles, judging by the way the captain and crew conduct themselves.
The book is highly didactic. On the voyage across the atlantic we are allowed to listen in on lectures on trade winds, ocean currents, the gulf stream, the Sargasso sea and such like. There is a good deal of meteorological explanation, which is not surprising as the writer was brother to George Kingston, the father of Canadian meteorology.
We also have some wonderful descriptions of all the places that are visited by the ship. We learn why the British settled the Falklan Islands, what life was like in Chile at that time (allegedly) and such like. We see the effects of the California gold rush and tour the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), with a wonderful spelling of some of the island names. And it goes on - but it takes 250 pages to get to any great adventure (when the ship is taken by pirates). There are many smaller adventures first of course, including a volcanic eruption (of course! that always happens when you visit Hawaii).
All in all this book is wonderful - not because of its storyline, nor because of its characterisations (are there any? I am not sure!) but because of what it represents: an archetypal late victorian Boy's Own adventure.
It is full of cultural assumptions and references that are both amusing and enlightening on the victorian mind set. It is not a particularly "politically correct" book, but on the other hand it is clearly attempting to foster knowledge, understanding and compassion in the minds of its readers. It will also do a great deal to educate anyone interested in the period about the world at that time. And occasionally it will simply amuse (I grinned at the aprobation given to Sandwich islands for cooling themselves when they have a fever - thus "closing their pores and hastening their deaths").
All in all a worthwhile read should you happen to find a copy, although unlikely ever to be republished. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 220
- Also by
- 11
- Members
- 893
- Popularity
- #28,688
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 24
- ISBNs
- 150
- Languages
- 2