{\b Charles Kingsley}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 12 June 1819

{\b Date of Death}.: 23 January 1875

{\b Works}.

English novelist, essayist and poet. His early novels, Yeast (1848) and Alton 
Locke (1850) contained strong elements of social criticism. He moved on to 
historical themes with Hypatia (1851), Westward Ho! (1855) and Hereward the 
Wake (1866), while two of his best-known works, The Heroes (1856) and The 
Water-Babies (1863) were written for children. His dramatic poem, The Saint's 
Tragedy, appeared in 1848. Of his other poetry, many of his songs and ballads, 
such as 'Airly Beacon' and 'The Sands of Dee' remain popular anthology pieces.  

{\b Featured Works}.

'The Sands of Dee', 'The Last Buccaneer', 'The Knight's Return', 'Sonnet', 
'The Starlings', 'Dartside', 'The Three Fishers', 'The Ugly Princess', 'The 
Summer Sea', 'The Poetry of a Root Crop', 'The Day of the Lord', 'Airly 
Beacon', 'Ode to the North-East'.

{\b General Comment}.

Charles Kingsley was born at Holne Vicarage on Dartmoor, and his early 
upbringing in the countryside led to a lifelong interest in the natural world. 
After graduating from Magdalene College, Oxford he was ordained a clergyman, 
and in 1844 he became Rector of Eversley in Hampshire. 

He was a prominent figure in the Christian Socialist movement, which sought 
social change through peaceful moral persuasion, in contrast with some of the 
violent actions of the Chartists. These concerns were reflected in his 
writing, and his journalism and early novels caused some controversy with 
their outspoken social criticism. 

Kingsley's religious and scientific interests also found expression in his 
books. He was one of the first clergymen to support Charles Darwin's theories, 
and The Water-Babies is influenced by the concept of evolution. His 
anti-Catholic prejudice coloured Westward Ho! and led to his involvement in a 
public argument with John Henry Newman. In his Apologia, Newman convincingly 
answered Kingsley's attacks on the Roman Church.

In 1860 Kingsley was appointed Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, a 
post he held for nine years. After leaving Cambridge he realised a lifelong 
ambition of making a trip to the West Indies, and wrote a book, At Last 
(1871), about the journey. He ended his career as Canon of Westminster and 
Chaplain to Queen Victoria.