H. Onslow (Henry Onslow) Curling

A British author from the Victorian period, H. Onslow Curling is chiefly remembered for Hints on the Use and Handling of Firearms Generally, and the Revolver in Particular, published in 1885. Project Gutenberg lists that work as his only book there and identifies him as Henry Onslow Curling, with dates given as 1833?–1888.

The book itself was published under the name Lieut. H. Onslow Curling, C.L.A.B., which suggests a military background and matches the manual’s practical, no-nonsense tone. Written at a time when revolver practice was becoming a more visible subject in Britain, it focuses on careful handling, training, and the useful realities of shooting rather than romance or adventure.

Reliable biographical details about Curling are scarce, and even his birth year appears slightly uncertain in available sources. A burial record indexed online for Henry Onslow Ignatius Curling gives 1833–1888, which is consistent with the dates commonly attached to the author, but beyond that, the surviving public record is thin. That obscurity makes his surviving book all the more interesting: it reads like a compact snapshot of late 19th-century military and sporting attitudes toward firearms.