author
Bennet Copplestone
1867–1932
Best known as Bennet Copplestone, this British writer turned naval knowledge and a journalist’s eye for detail into brisk adventure stories and wartime nonfiction. His books often draw on the sea, espionage, and the English coast, giving them a grounded, lived-in feel.
3 Audiobooks
The Silent Watchers England's Navy during the Great War: What It Is, and What We Owe to It
by Bennet Copplestone
The Lost Naval Papers
by Bennet Copplestone
Madame Gilbert's Cannibal
by Bennet Copplestone
About the author
Writing as Bennet Copplestone, Frederick Harcourt Kitchin (about 1867–1932) was a British journalist, statistician, and author. He worked for The Times and was noted in reference sources as the publisher of its Financial and Commercial Supplement from 1904 to 1908, building a reputation beyond fiction as a serious observer of public affairs.
Under his pen name, he published a run of novels and story collections including The Lost Naval Papers (1917), The Last of the Grenvilles (1919), Madame Gilbert's Cannibal (1920), The Treasure of Golden Cap (1922), and Dead Men's Tales (1926). He also wrote nonfiction about the Royal Navy during the First World War, including The Silent Watchers.
His work is especially appealing for readers who enjoy early 20th-century adventure fiction with a strong sense of place and professional know-how. Even when the plots turn dramatic, there is usually a practical, reportorial touch behind them, which likely comes from the same career that made Kitchin known as a journalist and statistician.