Alexander William Kinglake

Born near Taunton, Somerset, on August 5, 1809, he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was later called to the Bar. Although trained for a legal career, he became far better known as a writer, especially after the success of Eothen in 1844, a travel narrative drawn from journeys through the eastern Mediterranean and the Ottoman world.

He went on to write The Invasion of the Crimea, a large multi-volume history published between 1863 and 1887. That work helped cement his reputation as a major Victorian prose writer: passionate, highly detailed, and intensely interested in character and power. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Bridgewater from 1857 to 1859.

Kinglake died in London on January 2, 1891. He is still remembered for the contrast between his two best-known books: one a stylish, atmospheric account of travel, the other a long, ambitious history of war.