Henry Newbolt
Sir Henry John Newbolt, CH (6 June 1862 – 19 April 1938) was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps best remembered for his poems "Vitaï Lampada" and "Drake's Drum". Background. Henry John Newbolt was born in Bilston, Wolverhampton (then in Staffordshire, but now in the West Midlands), son of the vicar of St Mary's Church, the Rev. Henry Francis Newbolt (1824–1866), and his second wife, Emily née Stubbs (1838–1921), the older brother of Sir Francis Newbolt . After his father's death, the family moved to Walsall, where Henry was educated. Education. Newbolt attended Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall, and Caistor Grammar School, from which he gained a scholarship to Clifton College, where he was head of the school (1881) and edited the school magazine. His contemporaries there included John McTaggart, Arthur Quiller-Couch, Roger Fry, William Birdwood, Francis Younghusband and Douglas Haig. Graduating from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Newbolt was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1887 and practised until 1899. Family. Newbolt married Margaret Edwina née Duckworth (1867–1960) of the prominent  publishing family; they had two children: Newbolt resided at 14 Victoria Road, Kensington|Victoria Road in Kensington from 1889 to 1898. Publications. His first book was a novel, "Taken from the Enemy" (1892), and in 1895 he published a tragedy, "Mordred"; but it was the publication of his ballads, "Admirals All" (1897), that created his literary reputation. By far the best-known of these is "Vitaï Lampada". They were followed by other volumes of stirring verse, including "The Island Race" (1898), "The Sailing of the Long-ships" (1902), "Songs of the Sea" (1904) and "Songs of the Fleet" (1910). In 1914 , Newbolt published " Aladore ", a fantasy novel about a bored but dutiful knight who abruptly abandons his estate and wealth to discover his heart's desire and woo a half- Fairy|fae enchantress. It is a tale filled with allegories about the nature of youth, service, individuality and tradition. It was reissued in a new edition by Newcastle Publishing Company in 1975. Section::::"Vitaï Lampada". |thumb|350px| Clifton College Close Probably the best known of all Newbolt's poems, which was written in 1892 and for which he is now chiefly remembered, is "Vitaï Lampada". The title is taken from a quotation by Lucretius  and means "the torch of life". It refers to how a schoolboy, a future soldier, learns selfless commitment to duty in cricket matches in the Clifton College Close Ground|Close at Clifton College : The engagement mentioned in verse two is the Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan in January 1885 during the unsuccessful expedition to rescue Charles George Gordon|General Gordon . Frederick Burnaby is the colonel referred to in the line "The Gatling gun|Gatling 's jammed and the Colonel's dead...", although it was a Gardner gun|Gardner machine gun which jammed, and while Mahdist warriors did break into the British square, it  did not collapse disastrously as the poem suggests. Section::::"Drake's Drum". According to legend Drake's Drum|the drum owned by Francis Drake|Sir Francis Drake and carried with him on his voyages will beat in times of national crisis and the spirit of Drake will return to aid his country. Sir Henry reinforced the myth with his 1897 poem "Drake's Drum", "Drake he's in his hammock an' a thousand mile away...": The poem has been widely anthologised and has been set to both classical and folk tunes. "Drake's Drum" is the first of five poetic settings by the  composer Charles Villiers Stanford . Stanford wrote two song cycles based on poems by Newbolt: " Songs of the Sea (Stanford)|Songs of the Sea " and "Songs of the Fleet". Section::::"Monthly Review". Newbolt was the editor of the "Monthly Review" from October 1900 to September 1904. He was also a member of the Athenaeum Club, London|Athenaeum and the Coefficients (dining club)|Coefficients dining club . War and history. At the start of the First World War, Newbolt – along with over 20 other leading British writers – was brought into the Wellington House|War Propaganda Bureau , which had been formed to promote Britain's interests during the war  and maintain public opinion in favour of the war. He subsequently became Controller of Telecommunications at the Foreign Office. His poems about the war include "The War Films", printed on the leader page of " The Times " on 14 October 1916, which seeks to temper the shock effect on cinema audiences of footage of the The Battle of the Somme (film)|Battle of the Somme . Newbolt was knighted in 1915 and was appointed Companion of Honour in 1922. The Newbolt Report. In 1921 he had been the author of a government Report entitled "The Teaching of English in England" which established the  foundations for modern English Studies and professionalised the forms of teaching of English Literature. It established a canon, argued that English must become the linguistic and literary standard throughout the British Empire, and even proposed salary rates for lecturers. For many years it was a standard work for English teachers in teacher training Colleges. Death and legacy. Image:Henry Newbolt No. 2 by William Strang 1898.jpg|thumb|Sir Henry John Newbolt, Etching by William Strang. 1898 Newbolt died at his home in Campden Hill , Kensington , London, on 19 April 1938, aged 75. A blue plaque there commemorates his residency. He is buried  in the churchyard of Church of St Mary, Orchardlea|St Mary's church on an island in Orchardleigh Lake|the lake on the Orchardleigh Estate of the Duckworth family in Somerset. In his home town of Bilston, a :File:The Sir Henry Newbolt - geograph.org.uk - 675033.jpg|public house was named after him, and a blue plaque is displayed on Barclay's bank near the street where he was born. Early 20th century British composer Hope Squire wrote several songs based on Newbolt’s poems. In June 2013 a campaign was launched by " The Black Country Bugle " to erect a statue in Newbolt's memory . Recordings were made of Newbolt reading some of his own poems. They were on four 78rpm sides in the Columbia Records "International Educational Society" Lecture series, Lecture 92 (D40181/2). External links. Category:1862 births Category:1938 deaths Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Category:19th-century English poets Category:English naval historians Category:People educated at Clifton College Category:People from Bilston Category:People from Kensington Category:Victorian poets Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Category:People educated at Caistor Grammar School Category:People educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School Category:English male poets  Henry Newbolt Sir