Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy

Born in 1859 or 1860 and generally known as Justin Huntly McCarthy, he was an Irish writer, historian, journalist, and nationalist politician. He was the son of writer and politician Justin McCarthy, and he built a career that reached across literature and public life.

McCarthy served as an Irish Parliamentary Party MP in the late nineteenth century, while also writing fiction, history, and drama. His best-known work is If I Were King, a historical romance that later inspired stage and screen adaptations, including versions of The Vagabond King.

Alongside his novels and plays, he wrote books on history and political subjects, showing the same interest in big public events that shaped his political career. He died in 1936, and he remains remembered chiefly for his lively historical storytelling and for the unusual way he combined authorship with active political life.