Henry Anderson Bryden

  Notes:

1861 Census (aged 6) at Wimbledon School as boarder.

1871 ; presume at Cheltenham ?

1881 Census (aged 26) living with parents and siblings at Croydon, Surrey. Occupation; Solicitor. Unmarried.

1891 Census living with family in in boarding house at 9 Christchurch Road. At this point gives his profession as Solicitor, but he is neither employed or employer.

1901 Census; (age 46) living with wife and daughter in Eastbourne, Sussex. Kate St John Wright (niece) is also living with them, as well as one servant. Occupation; Author (working at home on own account).

1911 Census; Living (age 56) as head at 10 Gore Park Avenue, Eastbourne with wife and dau Olivia and a servant. Occupation; Author.

1921 Census; Living (age 67y,1m) at 66 London Rd, Tunbridge Wells with wife and a Marian xxxxx (62 visitor). Occupying 3 rooms. Occupation; Organising Secretary for South East England of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (!).

Biog at;
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0955393612&id=HsSpvNOr7SEC&pg=RA3-PA53&lpg=RA3-PA53&ots=2xJ58QRhIm&dq=%22Priors+marston%22+Wright&sig=ccX8-1vvTYIU0aJTbfwYdYM9DpM#PRA3-PA53,M1
(Google Book - When The Lion Roars: An 1890 African Colonial Cookery Book) - which includes "Of Down View, Gore Park Road, Eastbourne, and the Constitutional Club S.W. ...... born in Oxon in 1854 and educated at Cheltenham College and at the Rev Drackenbury's Wimbledon. In his younger days he was well known as an athlete, representing England against Scotland at Rugby football, and winning some forty prizes, chiefly for long-distance running...... He married, 1881, Julia, daughter of the late J.P.Wright, of Priors Marston, Warwickshire".

Black Biogs from Wendy H;
3rd son of W.A.Bryden, Moor Field, Surbiton, and Maria, dau of Wm Cowper, Boddington, Northants; married Julia (died 1934) dau of J.P.Wright, Priors Marston, Warwickshire; one son one dau. Education; Cheltenham Coll; Rev JM Brackenbury's Wimbledon. Work; Played for England versus Scotland (International Football, Rugby rules), 1874; long distance runner, holder of 37 prizes; represented South versus North of England, ran second to W.Slade in fastest amateur mile on record (time 4m 24.5s), 1875; has resided and travelled extensively in South Africa, chiefly in pursuit of sport and natural history; travelled also in Morocco, the Canaries, Norway, Portugal, Spain, France. Publications; Long list ! Recreations; hunting, fishing, shooting, golf, natural history. Address; 4 York Road, Tunbridge WElls. Clubs; Constitutional, Shikar.

Similar obit in Times 29 Sep 1937 headed 'Sportsman, Athlete and Naturalist'. Adds "was one of the oldest followers on foot of the Eridge Hounds" and "Many would give the palm to 'The Enchantment of the Field' 1931 as his best book, as it is the most varied; it contains an instructive comparison between conditions and methods of foxhunting in England, France and America. His 'Wild Life in South Africa' 1936 shows his powers of observation as a naturalist. Mr.Bryden's wife died in 1934 and he leaves one dau and a son, Col.R.A.Bryden DSO, RAMC."

Played Rugby for England, once against Scotland - 23/2/1874 at lock, in starting line up.
http://statistics.scrum.com/rugby_stats_05.asp?ID=EBR26
Also in Ronald's letter in the Howell Wright Archive at Yale he says (as well as mentioning the fact that his father played rugby for England) "was in the championship class as a runner at the 1/2 mile and mile. A good horseman he regretted the passing of the horse and the age of mechanism and the motor car".

A noted hunter/naturalist, sportsman, author, and authority on Southern Africa. Olivia (his daughter) is mentioned on some websites - I think she possibly did illustrations for some of the books, and definately a portrait of Bryden's friend Selonus (see Olivia's entry). Have seen some of his books for upto £2,500.

Member of the Shikar Club;
http://www2.umist.ac.uk/sport/Sports%20History/BSSH/The%20Sports%20Historian/TSH%2020-1/20-1%20Art%205.htm

Held at UNISA Dept of History; Frederick Courteney Selous's: Letters to Henry Anderson Bryden, 1889-1914', Brenthurst Archives, 2 (2), 1995
http://www.brenthurst.org.za/archives.htm

His son Ronald appears to agree (letter Howell Wright archive @ Yale) to give his collection of his fathers books to Yale, British Universities having declined them. Later there is a letter from the University assuring him that they will be well cared for.

Books include;
Wild Life in South Africa (Pub 1936??) The birds and animals of South Africa from cuckoos to giraffes, from pidgeons to lions.

Gun and Camera in Southern Africa. A year wandering in Bechuanaland, the Kalahari Desert, and the Lake River country, Ngamiland with Notes on Colonisation, Natives, Natural History, and Sport.-Edward Stanford, 1893 London, 544pp, many plates and fold-out map. ISBN; 0935632735. Well produced important hunting work on the Southern Africa area. H. Anderson Bryden in his book Gun and camera in southern Africa (London, 1893) describes how, 'filter and cleanse our water as we might (and we struggled very hard to evolve purity out of filth), the plates, on being taken out of the bath the next morning, invariably had a film of mud and sand resting upon them" and "It is now often overlooked that both photographers and their customers at the time were sensitive to the aesthetic qualities of their images. An apologetic remark by H. Anderson Bryden illustrates this point: 'I cannot pretend that my pictures represent a high order of photographic art. But I will ask the reader to remember that the originals were taken and developed ... usually under very trying conditions" and "an instance is described by H. Anderson Bryden: at Masinya's Kraal, the village of a tribe of Bakurutse people, tributary to Khama, 'I had some trouble to get one of the girls to stand to be photographed; eventually a bright-coloured cotton handkerchief worked the oracle for me. The lady who thus honoured me with a sitting ... was quite overcome by the magnificence of the handkerchief "

Great and Small Game of Africa (with Lydekker) - Bryden Editor of this. An Account of the Distribution, Habits, and Natural History of the Sporting Mammals, with personal hunting Experiences Pub by Rowland Ward, London 1899. A sumptuous Victorian-era work that details scientific knowledge of African big game and is highlighted by numerous hunting adventures from its host of contributors: Arnold, Bryden, Buckley, Clarke, Delamere, Elliot, Ffinch, Hunter, Inverarity, Jackson, Johnston, Vaughan Kirby, Lydekker, Marriott, Neumann, Pease, Penrice, de Poncins, Rendall, Selous, Sharpe, Sitwell, Straker, Swayn, and Poulett-Weatherley. The hand-coloured plates of game heads are especially lovely. "This magnificent volume is the most complete work on the wild mammalia of Africa that has been published up to this period. Nearly all the celebrated hunters of the Dark Continent of the day contributed to its pages, and the valuable information, which is practically perfect, has been conveyed in a reasonable popular form ... Many of the contributors to the book [Lord Delamere, Harry Johnston, Richard Lydekker, F.C. Selous, et al.] sent their articles from the depths of the interior of Africa."

Kloof and Karroo: Sport, legend and natural history in Cape Colony: with a notice of the game birds, and of the present distribution of the antelopes and larger game. Pub. London: Longmans Green, 1889. xiii, 435 p.: "The sketches afford considerable information with regard to the game of South Africa.." Mendelssohn, vol. 1, p.211. He expresses great concern at the decimation of the herds of antelope and other big game and hopes that the extinction of the quagga will serve as a warning.

Nature and Sport in South Africa. Pub Chapman and Hall, 1897. "While most of the actual hunting revolves around bird shooting, there are chapters on rhinoceros, eland, kudu, sable, and other antelope species with Bryden relating the efforts of famous sportsmen, such as Cornwallis Harris and Selous, and brief mention of his own exploits."

Hare-Hunting and Harriers. 1903. Hare-hunting and Harriers: With Notices of Beagles and Basset Hounds by H. A. Bryden. Red cloth cover with enbossed black design and lettering to front board and spine. . Illustrated from photographs by R. B. Lodge and others. Approx 23 B&W plates. Printers Grant Richards 48 Leicester Square W.C dated 1903 vol1, 23 black and white illustrations ie (The Bexhill harriers) (The death going home ) (Walhampton Basset Hounds)among meny interesting illustrations,contents of book chap 1 Chiefly historical, 2 Hare hunters of the past,3 The hair and its way,4 The old time hare hounds,5Modern Harriers , including a glance at English Packs-Northumberland to Oxfordshire,as well as a glance at English packs- the South and west of England, Sport in WALES, Ireland and Scotland, Concerning kennels,hound managment , hunt servants and their duties, hunting with foot harriers, beagles and beagling plus other interesting chapters"

Giraffes, and How to Capture Them, article in The Pall Mall Magazine Nov 1893

The Tragedy of a Noble Poacher, article in Chambers’s Journal Mar 7 1908

Henry married Julia St John Wright, daughter of John Perkins/Pirkins# Wright and Mary Anne# Rands, on 10 Aug 1881 in Southam, Northants. (Julia St John Wright was born on 8 Dec 1855 in Priors Marston, Warwickshire and died on 9 Jun 1934.)