BRAINS IN THE FAMILY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 30, 19 January 1940, Page 15

BRAINS IN THE FAMILY

Three Sons Of A Clergyman

HREE gifted sons were born to an Anglican clergyman, the Rev. Charles Kingsley, early last century. Their names were Charles, George and Henry. The special significance of two of these literary men to present-day radio listeners lies in the fact that two important novels, "Westward Ho!" and " Ravenshoe," by Charles and Henry respectively, are the basis of popular radio serials. The eldest, Charles, was born under the brow of Dartmoor at Holme Vicarage in 1819. From the Helston School he passed to King’s College, London, and afterwards to Magdalen College, Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1842, and five months later was ordained to the curacy of Eversley in Hampshire, where-from 1844 as rector -he spent the rest of his life. He married in the year in which he was presented to this living. Within a few years Charles Kingsley wrote "Alton Locke" and "Yeast" — novels which are obviously the work of a convinced Radical or Christian Socialist. They deal widely with social questions. If Kingsley wrote nothing more to the same purpose, it was not so much that time had modified his views as that his views had modified the times. "Westward Ho!" His Masterpiece For he had thrown himself with all the ardour of youth and of his own impetuous nature into various schemes for the improvement of the condition, material and moral, of the working classes. Among his very numerous articles on current topics, and his. books (including "Hypatia," "Two Years Ago," and "Hereward the Wake") his "Westward Ho!" was his masterpiece in the popular sense. In parts it is as life-like as anything in the whole range of romantic literature. In 1860, five years after the appearance of "Westward Ho!" the University of Cambridge chose him to be Professor of History. Later there appeared "Water Babies," "The Heroes," and "At

Last." Two of his lyrics have become everywhere as well known as proverbs: " The Sands of Dee" and "Three Fishers Went Sailing." He became a Canon of Westminster and Chaplain to Queen Victoria. By nature he was_ hot-headed frank, and combative. His "muscular Christianity" (a phrase he himself disliked) "was cheerful and robust." "Westward Ho!" gave its name to a place previously known as Northam Burrows. Not many geographical names are taken from the titles of books: the reverse is far more often the case. Doctor-Author The next brother, George Henry Kingsley, was a doctor-author whose devotion to duty in a time of cholera was commemorated by Chafles in his book "Two Years Ago." The most famous work to come from George Henry’s pen was "South Sea Bubbles," by "the Earl and the Doctor." This has enjoyed a vogue in Australia and New Zealand. His travelling companion on this occasion was the Earl of Pembroke. George Henry Kingsley also had a daughter Mary, who was something of a pioneer among -women travellers, and wrote "Travels in West Africa." Wild Young ‘Brother Henry, the youngest brother, suc cumbed to the gold-digging fever, and went off to Australia like so many young men of his day. He was restless, wild, and self-indulgent and found no fortune, either as labourer, stockdriver, or trooper in the mounted police. His relatives heard nothing of him for five years, and then suddenly he reappeared in Eng-land-somewhat to their annoyance. But he was provided with a cottage next to the dwelling of his aged parents at Eversley,. and there he proceeded to write, or rather finish, that vivid novel "Geoffrey Hamlyn," which recounts much of his adventurous time in Australia. Through the- influence of his brother Charles, the book found ready acceptance by the firm’ of. Alexander Macmillan in 1859. It was succeeded by the even finer " Ravenshoe ":in.1862. Three other good books followed, but by ‘1869 .deterioration in both Henry’s habits and brain had set in, and his subsequent stories failed to reach the same standard. He was for a time in Edinburgh as editor of "The Daily Review" and soon after went out as war correspondent during the Franco-Prussian campaign. He died in Sussex in 1876, only forty-six years old, his bright promise extinguished early -mainly because of his irregular habits. -From the series broadcast by 2YA.