author
Sir W. Laird (William Laird) Clowes
1856–1905
A journalist-turned-naval historian, he is best remembered for the sweeping multi-volume history of the Royal Navy that kept his name in print long after his death. His career ranged from poetry and fiction to close reporting on naval affairs, giving his work both literary energy and technical depth.
2 Audiobooks
Black America : A study of the ex-slave and his late master
by Sir W. Laird (William Laird) Clowes
The captain of the "Mary Rose" : A tale of to-morrow
by Sir W. Laird (William Laird) Clowes
About the author
Born in Hampstead on February 1, 1856, William Laird Clowes trained in law at King's College London and Lincoln's Inn before turning to journalism. He wrote early literary works as well as reportage, but naval subjects became his central field, and he built a reputation through newspapers and specialist writing on ships, strategy, and maritime history.
His best-known achievement was The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, a major multi-volume work published between the late 1890s and early 1900s. Clowes also contributed to reference works and naval periodicals, and his long focus on sea power helped make him a notable public interpreter of British naval history in his time.
He was knighted in 1902 and died on August 14, 1905. Although he wrote across several genres, he is chiefly remembered for combining a reporter's eye for detail with a historian's sense of scale.