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Alfred Henry Miles

Alfred Henry Miles (26 February 1848 – 30 October 1929) was a prolific Victorian-era English writer – including as an anthologist, children's writer, editor, journalist, and poet – as well as a composer and lecturer.

He published hundreds of works on a wide range of topics, ranging from poetry (The Poets and the Poetry of the Century, 10 volumes. (London: Hutchinson, 1891)), warfare (Wars of the Olden Times, Abraham to Cromwell) to household encyclopaedias with information for every conceivable contingency (The Household Oracle: A Popular Referee on Subjects of Household Enquiry), and even advice to the lovelorn (Wooing: Stories of the Course That Never Did Run Smooth by R. E. Francillon and others. Issued as a volume in The Idle Hour Series, London: Hutchinson, [1891]).

He was Guardian of the Poor for six years and a member of the London Borough of Lewisham from 1904 to 1906.

He was editor of the Fifty-Two Library, a series of children's adventure stories published by Hutchinson & Co., London in the 19th century. He compiled some fifty volumes that appeared at five shillings apiece.

Selected books

  • The Fifty-Two Library [52v|1889–1907]
  • The Poets and Poetry of the Century (ed.) [10v|p|1891–97]
  • The Universal Natural History, with Anecdotes Illustrating the Nature, Habits, Manners and Customs of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, etc., etc. edited by Alfred H. Miles, New York : Dodd, Mead and Co., 1895
  • Successful Recitations (ed.) [1902]
  • Log Leaves and Sailing Orders (ed.) [c|1902]
  • Edward Hayes Plumptre to Selwyn Image: The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century [b|1906]
  • Christina G. Rossetti to Katharine Tynan (ed.) [1907]
  • Drawing Room Entertainments [d|pub:1909]
  • Ballads of Brave Women [1909]
  • A Book of Brave Girls at Home and Abroad [n|1909]
  • A Book of Brave Boys All the World Over [n|1909]
  • The First Favourite Reciter (ed.) [1909]
  • Original Poems, Ballads, and Tales in Verse [p|1910]
  • The Sweep of the Sword [1910]
  • Twixt Life and Death Opon Sea and Shore [1910]
  • Heroines of the Home and the World of Duty [1910]
  • A Garland of Verse for Young People [p|1911]
  • The Diner's-Out Vade Mecum [n|1912]
  • A Book of Brave Boys [n|?/1915]
  • Heroes of History [1916]

Poetry

Miles's poetry is unashamedly chauvinistic and strongly reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling.

"John Bull and His Island" (first verse)

There's a doughty little Island in the ocean,
:The dainty little darling of the free;
That pulses with the patriots' emotion,
:And the palpitating music of the sea:
She is first in her loyalty to duty;
:She is first in the annals of the brave;
She is first in her chivalry and beauty,
:And first in the succour of the slave!
Then here's to the pride of the ocean!
:Here's to the pearl of the sea!
Here's to the land of the heart and the hand
:That fight for the right of the free!
Here's to the spirit of duty,
:Bearing her banners along--
Peacefully furled in the van of the world
:Or waving and braving the wrong.

See also

References

External links