H. G. (Henry George) Keene

Educated at Rugby School and Wadham College, Oxford, he went to India in 1847 and spent decades in the Bengal Civil Service before retiring in 1882. Alongside government work, he built a second career as a writer, drawing on his knowledge of South Asian history and politics.

He wrote both fiction and history, but he is best remembered for historical works on India, the Mughal Empire, and Muslim rule in the subcontinent. His books include studies of Delhi and biographies of major rulers, written for general readers as well as students of history.

Born in 1825 and dying in 1915, he belonged to a generation of Victorian writers who combined imperial service with literary work. Today he is mainly of interest to readers exploring older English-language histories of India and the nineteenth-century view of the region's past.