Edward Gilliat

Born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Edward Gilliat was a British clergyman, teacher, and writer active in the late Victorian and Edwardian period. He studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, took holy orders in the Church of England, and went on to work as a schoolmaster at Westminster and then Harrow, where he spent many years.

Alongside his teaching, he built a substantial writing career. Gilliat wrote both fiction and nonfiction, including historical adventure stories and lively retellings of heroic episodes from British and imperial history. His published works include Forest Outlaws, Heroes of Modern Africa, Heroes of the Indian Mutiny, and The Romance of Modern Sieges.

He is remembered today as one of those versatile late-19th-century writers who moved easily between classroom, pulpit, and printed page. His books were written to entertain as well as inform, with a clear taste for action, character, and dramatic moments from the past.