History of Henry Esmond. The History of Henry Esmond is a historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published in 1852.
The book tells the story of the early life of Henry Esmond, a colonel in the service of Queen Anne of England. A typical example of Victorian historical novels, Thackeray's work of historical fiction tells its tale against the backdrop of late 17th-and early 18th-century England-specifically, major events surrounding the English Restoration, and utilises characters both real and imagined.
It weaves its central character into a number of events such as the Glorious Revolution, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Hamilton-Mohun Duel and the Hanoverian Succession. Henry Esmond relates his own history in memoir fashion, mainly in the third person but occasionally dropping into the first person.
Henry, born about 1678, is an orphan and lives near London in the care of French Huguenot refugees. When Henry is about ten years old, Thomas Esmond, third Viscount Castlewood, removes him from his caretakers and takes him to Castlewood; Henry lives at Castlewood as a servant, and it is generally assumed that he is the viscount's illegitimate son.
The Catholic viscount opposes the legitimacy of King William III and is killed fighting for James II at the Battle of the Boyne. Castlewood is temporarily occupied by the army and Henry is befriended by a trooper, the writer Richard St
The book tells the story of the early life of Henry Esmond, a colonel in the service of Queen Anne of England. A typical example of Victorian historical novels, Thackeray's work of historical fiction tells its tale against the backdrop of late 17th-and early 18th-century England-specifically, major events surrounding the English Restoration, and utilises characters both real and imagined.
It weaves its central character into a number of events such as the Glorious Revolution, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Hamilton-Mohun Duel and the Hanoverian Succession. Henry Esmond relates his own history in memoir fashion, mainly in the third person but occasionally dropping into the first person.
Henry, born about 1678, is an orphan and lives near London in the care of French Huguenot refugees. When Henry is about ten years old, Thomas Esmond, third Viscount Castlewood, removes him from his caretakers and takes him to Castlewood; Henry lives at Castlewood as a servant, and it is generally assumed that he is the viscount's illegitimate son.
The Catholic viscount opposes the legitimacy of King William III and is killed fighting for James II at the Battle of the Boyne. Castlewood is temporarily occupied by the army and Henry is befriended by a trooper, the writer Richard St
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