Cleopatra
Henry Rider Haggard
(, April 19, 2017)
About Haggard:Henry Rider Haggard was born at Bradenham, Norfolk, toSir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and EllaDoveton, an author and poet. He was the eighth of ten children.He was initially sent to Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshireto study under the Reverend H.J. Graham but, unlike hisolder brothers who graduated from various Public Schools, heended up attending Ipswich Grammar School. This was becausehis father, who regarded him as somebody who was notgoing to amount to much, could no longer afford to maintainhis expensive private education. After failing his army entranceexam he was sent to a private âcrammerâ in London to preparefor the entrance exam for the British Foreign Office, which inthe end he never sat. Instead Haggardâs father sent him toAfrica in an unpaid position as assistant to the secretary to theLieutenant-Governor of Natal, Sir Henry Bulwer. It was in thisrole that Haggard was present in Pretoria for the official announcementof the British annexation of the Boer Republic ofthe Transvaal. In fact, Haggard raised the Union Flag and wasforced to read out much of the proclamation following the lossof voice of the official originally entrusted with the duty. As ayoung man, Haggard fell deeply in love with Lilith Jackson,whom he intended to marry once he obtained paid employmentin South Africa. In 1878 he became Registrar of the High Courtin the Transvaal, but when he sent his father a letter tellinghim that he intended to return to England in order to marry LilithJackson his father replied that he forbade it until he hadmade a career for himself. In 1879 he heard that Lilith hadmarried someone else. When he eventually returned to Englandhe married a friend of his sister, Mariana Louisa Margitsonand brought her back to Africa. Later they had a sonnamed Jock (who died of measles at the age of 10) and threedaughters. Returning again to England in 1882, the couplesettled in Ditchingham, Norfolk. Later he lived in Kessinglandand had connections with the church in Bungay, Suffolk. Heturned to the study of law and was called to the bar in 1884.His practice of law was somewhat desultory, and much of histime was taken up by the writing of novels. Heavily influencedby the larger-than-life adventurers he met in Colonial Africa,most notably Frederick Selous and Frederick Russell Burnham,the great mineral wealth discovered in Africa, and the ruins ofancient lost civilizations in Africa such as Great Zimbabwe,Haggard created his Allan Quatermain adventures. Three of hisbooks, The Wizard (1896), Elissa; the doom of Zimbabwe(1899), and Black Heart and White Heart; a Zulu idyll (1900)are dedicated to Burnham's daughter, Nada, the first whitechild born in Bulawayo, herself named after Haggard's 1892book: Nada the Lily. Years later, when Haggard was a successfulnovelist, he was contacted by his former love, Lilith Jackson.She had been deserted by her husband, who had left herpenniless and infected her with syphilis, from which she eventuallydied. It was Haggard who paid her medical bills. Thesedetails were not generally known until the publication ofHaggard's 1983 biography by D. S. Higgins. Haggard washeavily involved in agricultural reform and was a member ofmany Commissions on land use and related affairs, work thatinvolved several trips to the Colonies and Dominions. He wasmade a Knight Bachelor in 1912, and a Knight Commander ofthe Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfullyfor parliament as a candidate for the Conservative Party.