Henry Britton

Born in Derby, England, on 24 January 1843, he moved to Australia with his family as a child and learned journalism in his father's newspaper office at Castlemaine in Victoria. He later worked for both The Age and The Argus in Melbourne, building a reputation as a skilled reporter.

His best-known writing grew out of repeated assignments to Fiji and the Pacific in the 1870s. As a special correspondent, he reported on political events, the labor trade, and the annexation of Fiji, and his letters were later collected in Fiji in 1870. He also wrote Lolóma, or Two Years in Cannibal-land: A Story of Old Fiji, a book remembered for its energetic storytelling and its attempt to preserve details of Fijian life as he saw it.

Later in his career he became chief of The Argus reporting staff and sub-editor, and he also wrote social sketches under the pen name "Marcellus." He died on 21 February 1938. No suitable verified portrait image was found during this search, so none is included here.