author
Percy Fitzpatrick
1862–1931
Best known for the classic dog story Jock of the Bushveld, this South African writer drew on hard-won adventures in the Transvaal to create a book that has stayed in readers’ hands for generations.
3 Audiobooks
The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs
by Percy Fitzpatrick
The Outspan: Tales of South Africa
by Percy Fitzpatrick
Jock of the Bushveld
by Percy Fitzpatrick
About the author
Born in 1862, Percy FitzPatrick was a South African author, public figure, and businessman whose life reached far beyond the page. After his father's death, he left his studies and worked in the Transvaal, where his experiences as a transport rider, prospector's assistant, and journalist later gave his writing its vivid, lived-in feeling.
His most famous book, Jock of the Bushveld (1907), grew out of those early frontier years and became a lasting favorite, especially for younger readers. The story, based on his travels with his dog Jock, is still widely regarded as a South African classic.
FitzPatrick was also active in politics and business, and he played a notable role in public life during the era of the Anglo-Boer War and the early Union of South Africa. He died in 1931, leaving behind a reputation shaped both by beloved storytelling and by a complicated career in colonial South Africa.