W.E.Henley
Dublin Core
Title
W.E.Henley
Description
Dates: 23 August 1849 – 11 July 1903
Occupation: Poet, critic, editor
Nationality: English
Born Gloucester, son of a bookseller. Tubercular disease of the bone in childhood led to amputation of one leg below the knee; the other was saved during a twenty-month stay at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (1873–75), where he also began writing the hospital poems that established his literary reputation. Edited the Magazine of Art (1882–86), the Scots Observer, Edinburgh (from 1889), subsequently the National Observer, London (from 1891 to 1894), and the New Review (1895–97). These journals introduced early work by Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, and J.M. Barrie. Best known for the poem 'Invictus' (1875). Died Woking, 11 July 1903.
Connection to S.R. Crockett: Central figure in late-Victorian literary debate through the Scots Observer and National Observer. His journals published criticism of Crockett which evidenced a hostile professional (and perhaps personal) relationship. He was likely behind Millar’s 1895 attack and his animosity towards his former friend Robert Louis Stevenson is relevant in this regard.
Occupation: Poet, critic, editor
Nationality: English
Born Gloucester, son of a bookseller. Tubercular disease of the bone in childhood led to amputation of one leg below the knee; the other was saved during a twenty-month stay at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (1873–75), where he also began writing the hospital poems that established his literary reputation. Edited the Magazine of Art (1882–86), the Scots Observer, Edinburgh (from 1889), subsequently the National Observer, London (from 1891 to 1894), and the New Review (1895–97). These journals introduced early work by Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, and J.M. Barrie. Best known for the poem 'Invictus' (1875). Died Woking, 11 July 1903.
Connection to S.R. Crockett: Central figure in late-Victorian literary debate through the Scots Observer and National Observer. His journals published criticism of Crockett which evidenced a hostile professional (and perhaps personal) relationship. He was likely behind Millar’s 1895 attack and his animosity towards his former friend Robert Louis Stevenson is relevant in this regard.
Source
Wikipedia, 'William Ernest Henley' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ernest_Henley). Verified April 2026.
Britannica, 'William Ernest Henley' (https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Ernest-Henley). Verified April 2026.
Britannica, 'William Ernest Henley' (https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Ernest-Henley). Verified April 2026.
Files
Collection
Citation
“W.E.Henley,” S.R.Crockett Museum, accessed May 3, 2026, https://srcrockett.scot/themuseum/items/show/1381.