William Henry Giles Kingston

William Henry Giles Kingston, also known as W. H. G. Kingston, was an English writer of boys' adventure stories. William Henry Giles Kingston was born in Harley Street, London, on February 28, 1814. He was Lucy Henry Kingston's eldest son, and he married Frances Sophia Rooke, the daughter of Sir Giles Rooke, a Court of Common Pleas Judge. Kingston's paternal grandfather, John Kingston (1736-1820), was a Member of Parliament who fought for the abolition of slavery while owning a plantation in...See more

William Henry Giles Kingston, also known as W. H. G. Kingston, was an English writer of boys' adventure stories. William Henry Giles Kingston was born in Harley Street, London, on February 28, 1814. He was Lucy Henry Kingston's eldest son, and he married Frances Sophia Rooke, the daughter of Sir Giles Rooke, a Court of Common Pleas Judge. Kingston's paternal grandfather, John Kingston (1736-1820), was a Member of Parliament who fought for the abolition of slavery while owning a plantation in Demerara. His father Lucy established a wine business in Oporto, and Kingston spent several years there, making regular trips to England and establishing a lifelong love of the water. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and then joined his father's wine business, but he quickly developed a passion for writing. His newspaper writings about Portugal were translated into Portuguese, and he aided in the signing of the commercial pact with Portugal in 1842, when Donna Maria da Gloria bestowed upon him an order of Portuguese knighthood and a pension. His debut novel, The Circassian Chief, was released in 1844. While still living in Oporto, he published The Prime Minister, a historical book partially based on the life of Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, and Lusitanian Sketches, a travelogue of Portugal. See less