H. O. (Henry Osmond) Lock

Born in 1879, Henry Osmond Lock wrote as H. O. Lock and is associated with a number of early 20th-century books, including With the British Army in the Holy Land, The Conquerors of Palestine Through Forty Centuries, and Dorset. Records also link him to later memoir writing, including Memoirs of a Dorset Solicitor.

Available sources describe him as a Major in the British Army, and his writing on Palestine and the wartime Middle East appears to draw on that background. Other records connect him with Dorchester and the Lock family’s long professional ties in Dorset, including work as a solicitor and a connection with Thomas Hardy’s circle.

He died in 1962. Though not a household name today, his books are still of interest to readers who enjoy firsthand military narrative, local history, and glimpses of Dorset and the wider British world of his time.