Clive Holland

Born Charles James Hankinson in Bournemouth on 23 April 1866, he wrote under the name Clive Holland. After attending Mill Hill School and training for the law, he turned to writing for boys' papers in the 1880s and then devoted himself fully to journalism in the 1890s.

His work ranged widely. Alongside novels and magazine writing, he became especially associated with travel books and cultural sketches, including books on Japan, Normandy and Brittany, Shakespeare country, Flanders and Hainault, and Tyrol. He was also known as a photographer, which fits the vivid, observant quality of his descriptive writing.

Clive Holland died in London on 14 February 1959. Today he is remembered as a versatile late-Victorian and early-20th-century writer whose books move between adventure, reportage, and travel writing, with titles such as My Japanese Wife, Things Seen in Japan, and The Hidden Submarine.