Richard Henry Horne

Born in London in 1802, Richard Henry Horne — who also used the name Richard Hengist Horne — built a varied career as a poet, dramatist, critic, and journalist. He became especially known for Orion, a long poem first published at the famously low price of a farthing, a gesture that helped make it a literary curiosity as well as a serious work.

Horne was deeply connected to the literary world of his time. He wrote for periodicals, produced criticism and imaginative literature, and is also remembered for work aimed at younger readers, including Memoirs of a London Doll, published under the pseudonym Mrs. Fairstar.

His career reflects the busy, experimental spirit of Victorian literary culture: ambitious, wide-ranging, and hard to place in just one category. Though not as widely read now as some of his contemporaries, he remains an intriguing figure for listeners interested in the rich mix of poetry, journalism, and storytelling in 19th-century Britain.