author

Thomas Benfield Harbottle

d. 1904

Best remembered for compact, handy reference books, this late-Victorian writer gathered quotations, historical allusions, and battles into works that stayed useful long after his death. He also moved in Theosophical circles in London during the 1880s.

2 Audiobooks

Dictionary of Battles

Dictionary of Battles

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Dictionary of Historical Allusions

Dictionary of Historical Allusions

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

About the author

Born in 1857 and dying in 1904, Thomas Benfield Harbottle was a British merchant who also wrote and compiled reference books. His surviving reputation rests mainly on practical works such as Dictionary of Quotations (Classical), Dictionary of Quotations (Spanish), Dictionary of Quotations (French and Italian), Dictionary of Historical Allusions, and Dictionary of Battles.

His books suggest a writer with a taste for concise, well-organized knowledge: the kind of author who helped readers quickly find a telling line, a useful name, or the outline of an event. Dictionary of Battles appeared after his death, and later editions helped keep his name in circulation.

Harbottle was also involved with the Theosophical Society in London and is described in Theosophical sources as part of Helena P. Blavatsky's circle in the late 1880s. A confirmed portrait was not readily available from the sources checked, so no profile image is included here.