author

Herbert Wrigley Wilson

1866–1940

Best known as H. W. Wilson, he turned naval history and modern war reporting into vivid, widely read nonfiction. His books trace the age of ironclads, empire, and global conflict with the eye of a journalist and the reach of a historian.

1 Audiobook

With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War of 1899-1900. Volume 1

With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War of 1899-1900. Volume 1

by Herbert Wrigley Wilson

About the author

Born in 1866 and educated at Durham School and Trinity College, Oxford, Herbert Wrigley Wilson became a British journalist and naval historian, often publishing as H. W. Wilson. He came from a large clerical family and, like several of his brothers, went into journalism.

Alongside his newspaper career, he wrote extensively about naval and military affairs. His books include Ironclads in Action, The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, Nelson and His Times, The Downfall of Spain, and Battleships in Action. He also co-wrote the invasion novel The Invasion of 1910 with William Le Queux.

Wilson was closely associated with the Daily Mail and, during the First World War, served as joint editor of The Great War: The Standard History of the All-Europe Conflict, a large multivolume history of the war. He died on July 12, 1940. For listeners interested in naval power, imperial politics, and how Britain wrote about war as it unfolded, his work offers a strong period voice.