author
A. H. W. (Austin Hubert Wightwick) Haywood
1878–1965
An army officer and travel writer, he turned his firsthand experience of West Africa into vivid adventure narratives that carried early 20th-century readers from the Niger to Timbuktu and across the Sahara. His books mix exploration, military life, and close observation of the places he passed through.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in 1878, Austin Hubert Wightwick Haywood was a British soldier and author whose writing grew out of service and travel in Africa. Records connected with his books identify him as A. H. W. Haywood, and contemporary honor lists show him as a Royal Artillery officer who was later recognized with the DSO and CMG.
Haywood is best remembered for travel and adventure writing such as Through Timbuctu and Across the Great Sahara, an account of a journey from Sierra Leone toward the Niger, on to Gao, and then north across the Sahara to Algiers. He also wrote Sport & Service in Africa, drawing on campaigning, hunting, and colonial military life in Nigeria, the Cameroons, and Togoland.
He died in 1965. Today, his work survives mainly through reprints and digital editions, where it remains of interest to readers drawn to classic travel writing, African exploration narratives, and eyewitness accounts from the late imperial era.