Sir H Rider Haggard

Mr Meeson's Will (1888), by H. Rider Haggard (novel) illustrated Sir H Rider Haggard

Mr. Meeson's Will is the story of mean Mr. Meeson, the greedy and wealthy owner of a publishing house. Augusta Smithers is a young writer who enters into an unfair contract with Meeson. In order to make a fresh start she boards a steamer bound for New Zealand only to find her enemy is on the same ship. After a collision with a whaler Augusta, Meeson and several others are washed up on one of the lonely Kerguelen Islands, in the south Indian Ocean. Before his death Meeson tattoos his will on Augusta's back. Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE ( 22 June 1856 - 14 May 1925) - known as H. Rider Haggard - was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform throughout the British Empire. His stories, situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. Henry Rider Haggard, generally known as H. Rider Haggard or Rider Haggard, came from a line of Danish descent and was born at Bradenham, Norfolk, the eighth of ten children, to Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and Ella Doveton, an author and poet. He was initially sent to Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshire to study under Reverend H. J. Graham, but unlike his older brothers who graduated from various private schools, he attended Ipswich Grammar School. This was because his father, who perhaps regarded him as somebody who was not going to amount to much, could no longer afford to maintain his expensive private education. After failing his army entrance exam, he was sent to a private crammer in London to prepare for the entrance exam for the British Foreign Office, for which he never sat. During his two years in London he came into contact with people interested in the study of psychical phenomena.