Henry Fielding was an English novelist, irony writer and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. He was born at Sharpham Park in Somerset, at the home of his maternal grandfather Sir Henry Gould, on 22 April 1707.
When he was 11, Fielding’s mother died and young Henry was placed in his grandmother’s care, although he continued to visit his father in London. Fielding was educated at Eton College where he enjoyed learning, excelling as a student of the classics and making friends. Not a great deal is known about his teenage years.
In 1725, when he was 17, Henry tried to abduct his cousin, Sarah Andrews (with whom he was infatuated and wanted to elope) while she was on her way to church. He fled to avoid prosecution.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Fielding’s cousin, described him about this time as a high-spirited youth, full of the joy of life, witty and humorous. He was handsome and more than 6 feet in height.
In 1728, Fielding travelled to Leiden to study classics and law at the university. However, impoverishment forced him back to London, where he began writing for the theatre. Some of his work savagely criticised the government of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole.
Fielding’s energy as a writer was prodigious – in six years he wrote twenty-five plays, trying his hand at farces, ballad operas, light comedies and political satires. His comic novel, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders of the traditional English novel.
He also holds a place in the history of law enforcement, having used his authority as a magistrate to establish the Bow Street Runners, London’s first intermittently funded, full-time police force.