Henry Fielding Biography - Books & Life - Interesting Facts, Novels, Dramas

The Life of Henry Fielding, The Father of Novel

Table of Contents

• Early Life and Childhood
• Henry Fielding's Career
• Henry Fielding The New Magistrate
• Henry Fielding Major Works
•  Henry Fielding's Famous Novels
• Henry Fielding's Famous Plays
• Henry Fielding's Personal Life and Legacy
• Henry Fielding Love Affairs
• Henry Fielding Sister Sarah
• Death of Henry Fielding
• Early Life and Childhood

On April 22, 1707, in Somerset, England, Col. Edmund Fielding, and his wife gave birth to Henry Fielding. His father served under John Churchill, John was the duke of Marlborough, a commander in the early 18th century. Soon after, his father remarried, and Henry was left alone at the age of 11. Soon after that, he went to attend Eton College. It was Henry's choice for studying the classics. George Lyttelton, a future politician, was introduced to him and they became friends. However, Henry started composing plays during this period. Over time, Henry enrolled at the University of Leiden in Holland in 1728 to pursue a degree in classical studies and law. Unfortunately, he gave up his studies due to a lack of money and return back home after just a few months.

Henry Fielding's Career

After returning to England, he started creating plays for the stage in the 1730s. The British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole's administration was criticized by him in his plays.  The Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 is said to have been established in revenge for his actions and the works he has written against the government. Having his creative freedom severely curtailed by the Act, Henry was unable to satirize official characters in his plays. In the end, he quit the stage and became a barrister, a lawyer.

However, Henry never stopped writing. In his writing career, a writer named Samuel Richardson published Virtue Rewarded or Pamela in 1740. It tells the tale of a servant girl who rejects her master's efforts to try to love her and ends up winning his heart because of her purity.  As a result, this work was a big success. However, the way Richardson presented women in his work was disliked by Henry. So, Henry wrote a work against Richardson above work and mocked the women's morality in his newly made work, 'Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews."

The interesting thing to note is that this work was not published under Henry's name and Henry never claimed credit for the piece, and it was published anonymously. Based on his writing style, it is widely recognized that he was responsible for the book's success. 

His novel 'Joseph Andrews,' is considered one of Henry’s great works. Fielding's debut as a professional author was marked by the publication of this work.

In the year 1743, he wrote another great work to honor Mr. Jonathan Wild. That is why he wrote ‘The History of the Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great." In this work, Henry compared Robert Walpole and Jonathan Wild. 

History saw the great author become famous because of his hilarious humor. He became known as a humorist in the mid-1740s, and in 1749 he wrote 'Tom Jones.' Iconic tales of a low-class hero's travels are depicted in this picaresque book set in an unjust culture.

Henry Fielding The New Magistrate

Many people do not know that he was a magistrate. For many years in the late 1740s, he served as both a magistrate in Middlesex and a judge of the peace for Westminster, London.  In 1749, he and his younger half-brother John, both dedicated to the struggle against crime and formed the Bow Street Runners. They became the greatest magistrates in eighteenth-century London who made the Bow Street Runners, It is called the city's first professional police force.

Henry Fielding Major Works

Henry Fielding was influenced by William Shakespeare, Homer, Horace, Miguel de Cervantes, John Milton, and Jonathan Swift.

"Tom Jones," Henry Fielding's best-known work and the first English book to be described as a novel, is the subject of this article. The work, which spans 18 volumes, is well-structured despite its length. In his 1948 book 'Great Novelists and Their Novels,' W. Somerset Maugham listed it as one of the world's top 10 novels.

 Henry Fielding's Famous Novels

• Shamela

• Joseph Andrews

• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

• Jonathan Wild

• Amelia

Henry Fielding's Famous Plays

• Rape upon Rape

• The Modern Husband

• Love in Several Masques

• The Temple Beau

• The Universal Gallant

• Pasquin

• The Covent Garden Tragedy

• The Author's Farce

Henry Fielding's Personal Life and Legacy

Charlotte Craddock, Henry Fielding's first wife, wed him in 1734. He loved her so much that he based two of his heroines (Sophia and Amelia) on her. Only one of the couple's five children lived into maturity. In 1744, his wife died, and he was devastated. Charlotte's 23-year-old daughter was also tragically killed after a short period of time.

Henry Fielding Sister Sarah

Sarah Fielding, Fielding's sister, was also an accomplished author. In addition, The Governess (1749) by Sarah Fielding can make her to being the first English children's fiction.

Henry Fielding Love Affairs

He had an affair with his wife's maid, Mary Daniel, and she got pregnant with his kid due to their relationship. They were married and had five children as a result of their romance. Unfortunately, three of the youngsters died of their injuries at an early age.

Death of Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding had gout and asthma, a disease in the early 1750s, which worsened. The year 1752 was the year that he needed crutches or a wheelchair. To find a solution to his health problems, he traveled to Portugal in the summer of 1754. On the 8th of October, 1754, he passed away in Lisbon.

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