[note 1] During his frequent illnesses he became an avid reader and developed a wide range of interests which he carried into adulthood.

He attended Westminster School, London, as a half-boarder when he was fourteen,[4]: 2  and later Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,[5] where he was a keen sportsman.

He left the university early without completing his degree to volunteer for the (Army) Hospital Commissariat of the Purveyors Department when the Crimean War began.

Elizabeth died in 1865 after a long illness and shortly after her death Henty began writing articles for the Standard newspaper.

[7] Henty's ideas about politics were influenced by writers such as Sir Charles Dilke and Thomas Carlyle.

While most of the 122 books he wrote were for children and published by Blackie and Son of London, he also wrote adult novels, non-fiction such as The March to Magdala and Those Other Animals, short stories for the likes of The Boy's Own Paper and edited the Union Jack, a weekly boy's magazine.

Henty's heroes – which occasionally included young ladies – are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of 'pluck' yet are also modest.

[11] On 16 November 1902, Henty died aboard his yacht in Weymouth Harbour, Dorset, leaving unfinished his last novel, By Conduct and Courage, which was completed by his son Captain C.G.

[12] G. A. Henty's commercial popularity encouraged other writers to try writing juvenile adventure stories in his style; "Herbert Strang", Henry Everett McNeil, Percy F. Westerman and Captain Frederick Sadleir Brereton all wrote novels in "the Henty tradition", often incorporating then-contemporary themes such as aviation and First World War combat.

[14] Henty wrote 122 works of historical fiction and all first editions had the date printed at the foot of the title page.

The simple explanation for this error of judgement is that Charles Scribner's Sons of New York dated their Henty first editions for the current year.

[23][24][25] Carpenter and Pritchard note that while "Henty's work is indeed full of racial (and class) stereotypes", he sometimes created sympathetic ethnic minority characters, such as the Indian servant who marries a white woman in With Clive in India, and point out Henty admired the Turkish Empire.

[6] In By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War, Mr. Goodenough, an entomologist remarks to the hero: “They [Negroes] are just like children ...

Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a state little above their native savagery.” In the Preface to his novel A Roving Commission (1900) Henty claims "the condition of the negroes in Hayti has fallen to the level of that of the savage African tribes" and argues "unless some strong white power should occupy the island and enforce law and order" this situation will not change.

[27] A review by Deirdre H. McMahon in Studies of the Novel in 2010 refers to his novels as jingoist and racist and states that during the previous decade "Numerous reviews in right-wing and conservative Christian journals and websites applaud Henty’s texts as model readings and thoughtful presents for children, especially boys.

These reviews often ignore Henty’s racism by packaging his version of empire as refreshingly heroic and patriotic.

[29] There is one known instance of a book title by Henty having been filmed, along with eleven audio theater productions by Heirloom Audio[31] in their series "The Extraordinary Adventures of G. A. Henty": Under Drake's Flag,[32] With Lee in Virginia,[33] In the Reign of Terror, The Cat of Bubastes, Beric the Briton, The Dragon and the Raven, Wulf the Saxon, Captain Bayley's Heir In Freedom's Cause, St. Bartholomew's Eve, and For the Temple.

[34] Heirloom Audio's productions have featured several well-known actors, including Golden Globe winner Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey and Billy Boyd of The Lord of the Rings.

[35] Heirloom Audio was founded by Illinois businessman Bill Heid, who said of Henty, "He took you to places that had great historical significance.

Cast: Frank Clark [Jim Whitney], Newton House, Louise Lorraine, Jay Wilsey, Edmund Cobb.