Ashton Hilliers

Writing as Ashton Hilliers, Henry Marriage Wallis was a British novelist, zoologist, and businessman born in Ipswich on January 19, 1854, and later based in Reading. He worked as a corn and seed merchant before retiring in 1909, but he also built a serious parallel career in natural history.

Wallis became closely involved with Reading Museum, serving for many years as Honorary Curator of Zoology and helping develop its collections, especially in birds and other vertebrates. He kept diaries, travelled for field observation, and earned a reputation as a careful student of wildlife, which helps explain the strong sense of observation found in his writing.

Under the name Ashton Hilliers, he published several novels, and he is now especially remembered for The Master-Girl (1910), a prehistoric romance noted for its adventurous plot and prominent female lead. He died in Reading on November 10, 1941.