H. Rider Haggard

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was born on June 22, 1856 in Norfolk, England. The son of a lawyer, Haggard was a student at Ipswich Grammar School and received homeschooling. Disappointed with his son's development up to that point, Haggard's father offered Sir Henry Bulwer, then Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, South Africa, the secretarial services of his nineteen-year-old son to live with him and help with the management of his estate in 1875. Haggard was in Pretoria when the British annexation of the British Republic of the Transvaal Boer was announced, and became the Clerk of the High Court, which became part of South Africa in 1878. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919 for his civic service. As an English royal officer in South Africa, Rider Haggard was introduced to numerous cultures and a wide range of traditions, beliefs and histories that had a profound impact on his creative talent.