author
H. B. (Henry Brodribb) Irving
1870–1919
A noted British stage actor and actor-manager, he also wrote with a sharp fascination for crime, courtroom drama, and the darker corners of history. His books bring a performer’s sense of pacing to real-life criminals and famous trials.
1 Audiobook
A Book of Remarkable Criminals
by H. B. (Henry Brodribb) Irving
About the author
Born in London on August 5, 1870, Henry Brodribb Irving was the eldest son of the celebrated actor Sir Henry Irving. He studied at Oxford and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, but the theatre soon won out, and he built his own career on the English stage under the name H. B. Irving.
Best known in his day as an actor and actor-manager, he also wrote several works that still attract readers interested in true crime and legal history, including A Book of Remarkable Criminals and Studies of Famous Trials. That mix of legal training, historical curiosity, and theatrical instinct gave his nonfiction a vivid, dramatic quality.
Irving died in London on October 17, 1919. Though closely linked to a famous theatrical family, his writing stands on its own for readers who enjoy intelligent, atmospheric accounts of notorious cases and human character under pressure.