Henry Ferris

## Family

* **Mother:** Lady Catherine Seymour
* **Father:** Deceased

**Brothers:** Albert and Richard Ferris

## Biography

### Early Years

Henry Ferris is the third son of an upper-class family which has the tradition of sending their second sons to the Army and their third sons to the British Aerial Corps. The family seat, Heytham Abbey, near Weymouth, had been in the possession of the family since the reign of Charles II. Henry's father is dead, his brother Albert is the present Lord Seymour, while his brother Richard is a captain in the Army. Their mother, Lady Catherine Seymour, is still alive, living with Lord Seymour and his wife, the current Lady Seymour.

Ferris resembles his mother in that they both have high foreheads and reddish-brown hair, with a trick of holding their heads very straight, which makes their necks appear longer.

Lady Catherine is apparently quite anxious for her youngest son, not being able to forget that he cried when he was first sent into the Corps at age seven. She over-compensates for her anxiety by proclaimed all too fervidly her pride in upholding the family traditions. As a result, visits home are quite uncomfortable for Ferris, although he himself tells Laurence that he would not give up the Corps "for anything."

*Further information: Heytham Abbey and Albert Ferris, Lord Seymour*
### 1805 - 1806

From *Throne of Jade*

In late 1805 Ferris is the 3rd Lieutenant on Temeraire's crew and captain of the Topmen when Temeraire, Laurence and their crew are sent to China aboard the HMS Allegiance. However, he soon becomes acting second lieutenant after Evans broke his leg in the Valerie engagement and has to be sent back to Britain. First lieutenant Granby is also injured and laid up for some time after the engagement, which leaves Ferris in command of the other aviators.

Ferris handles his duties well. When the Allegiance reaches China, Laurence and Temeraire are summoned by the Emperor to Peking. Granby and eleven others accompanied them, while Ferris remains with the Allegiance in command of the rest of Temeraire's crew.

### 1806

From *Black Powder War*

Ferris is promoted to acting first lieutenant in late 1806 after Iskierka's hatching, when Granby harnesses her and becomes her captain. At the time, Ferris is only 18.

### 1807

From *Empire of Ivory*

Upon arrival at Weymouth covert, they find that accommodations is in short supply, so Henry invites Laurence to stay at his nearby family estate.

It is as first lieutenant that Ferris travels to Cape Town along with Laurence, Temeraire and the rest of Lily's formation in 1807. Laurence himself has been in the Corps only two years at this point. He has relied on Granby to fill in the gaps in his own knowledge of the Corps and of dragons. Knowing that an officer of 19 might not be as forward to offer advice as an older one, Laurence encourages Ferris in doing so.

Later, Ferris is part of the group that is captured by Kefentse and taken to Mosi-oa-Tunya. He is the first one to climb down out of the cave where the party was kept captive, using the hand- and footholds that Lily has created in the cliff with her acid.

When Lily's formation returns from Africa with the cure for the plague, the Admiralty decided to keep the cure for British use only and to send an infected dragon, the courier Sauvignon, to the covert at Paris so that the plague would spread among the dragons in France and perhaps throughout the entire world.

When Temeraire and Laurence stole some of the mushrooms from the Loch Laggan covert and take it to France so that the cure can be passed around Europe and later convicted of treason, the court refuses to believe that Ferris, as first lieutenant, isn't involved.  Ferris is broken from the Corps which he has once said he would not give up "for anything" and which has been his home from the age of seven.  Laurence is unable to learn his whereabouts afterwards.

#### Terra Australis

When Laurence accepts the mission to Brazil and is putting a crew together, Ferris appears at the covert and despite Laurence's inability to get Ferris commission reinstated, he brings him along on the trip.

### 1812 - 1813

from *League of Dragons*

Ferris stays with Laurence and Temeraire while they are in Russia. At some point, after Laurence took part in a duel he stayed in the home of a humble family whose daughter, Gabija Merkelyte, called the attention of both Ferris and Dobrozhnov (the man Laurence had fought). Gabija's mother wanted her to marry one of the men that were staying in their home, and although Ferris defended the girl when Dobrozhnov was behaving badly, he could not accept to marry Gabija, since that would disappoint (even more) his family. Captain George Dyhern agreed to marry Gabija instead, and offered Ferris a position in the Prussian army (since they had more dragons than captains) to make him feel better.

During the campaign against the French Ferris became the Acting-captain of a Prussian middle-weight dragon who had lost her captain during her captivity and now wanted revenge. Admiral Laurence wasn't sure about the nature of said promotion, but when he saw the desperation of the beast he didn't have the heart to ask her to give Ferris up. Ferris and his Prussian dragon were given command of the Prussian middle-weights soon after.

## References

1. ↑ Novik, Naomi. Empire of Ivory: A Novel of Temeraire. (Ch. 3) . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.