William Henry Babcock

Born in St. Louis in 1849, William Henry Babcock became an American author and poet whose career also included journalism and law. He studied at Columbian University Law School, later worked as a journalist, and practiced law in Washington, D.C., including patent work after service in the U.S. Patent Office.

Alongside that professional life, he published poetry, historical novels, and more research-driven books. His known works include The Two Lost Centuries of Britain, Cian of the Chariots, and Legendary Islands of the Atlantic, a late study of medieval geography and Atlantic myth that shows his interest in history, legend, and exploration.

Babcock died in Washington, D.C., in 1922. Even from the small record that survives online, he comes across as a versatile writer with a foot in several worlds at once: literature, history, and the working life of the law.