author
Sir Spenser St. John
1826–1910
A globe-trotting 19th-century diplomat, he wrote from firsthand experience of Borneo, the Caribbean, and North Africa. His books mix travel writing, political observation, and the perspective of a man who spent much of his life at the edges of the British Empire.
4 Audiobooks
Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)
by Sir Spenser St. John
Hayti; or, The black republic.
by Sir Spenser St. John
Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 1 of 2)
by Sir Spenser St. John
Rajah Brooke : the Englishman as ruler of an eastern state
by Sir Spenser St. John
About the author
Born in London in December 1825, Spenser Buckingham St. John built a career as both a diplomat and an author. Early in life he became associated with James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, and went to Southeast Asia, where he later served as British consul in Brunei.
His diplomatic work took him far beyond Borneo. Sources also describe later postings in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Mexico, giving him a wide range of material for the books and reports he produced over the years.
He is especially remembered for travel and historical writing drawn from those experiences, including Life in the Forests of the Far East and works on Hayti and Morocco. He died in January 1910.