R. H. (Rees Howell) Gronow

Born on 7 May 1794, he was the eldest son of William Gronow of Swansea. After Eton, he entered the army as an ensign in 1812, served in Spain from 1812 to 1814, fought at Waterloo, and later became a captain.

He left the army in 1821 and, with private means, moved through fashionable social circles as a well-known man about town. That experience gave his writing its special flavor: he had seen both military life and elite society from the inside, and he wrote about both with a lively, anecdotal style.

His best-known books include Reminiscences of Captain Gronow (1862), Recollections and Anecdotes (1863), Celebrities of London and Paris (1865), and Last Recollections (published in 1866). He died in Paris on 20 November 1865, leaving memoirs that are still read for their wit and their picture of Regency and post-Napoleonic life.