Henry De Vere Stacpoole facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Henry De Vere Stacpoole
Born	(1863-04-09)9 April 1863 Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), Ireland
Died	12 April 1951(1951-04-12) (aged 88) Shanklin, Isle of Wight, England
Years active	1894–1949
Notable works	The Blue Lagoon
Spouses	Margaret Ann Robson ​ ​ (m. 1907; died 1938)​ Florence Robson ​ (m. 1938)​
Relatives	Florence Stacpoole (sister)

Henry de Vere Stacpoole (born April 9, 1863 – died April 12, 1951) was an Irish writer. He is best known for his adventure and romance novel The Blue Lagoon, published in 1908. This book has been made into several movies. He wrote under his own name and sometimes used the pen name Tyler de Saix.

About Henry Stacpoole

Early Life and Family

Henry Stacpoole was born in Kingstown, which is now called Dún Laoghaire, near Dublin, Ireland. This was on April 9, 1863. He was the youngest son of Reverend William Church Stacpoole and Charlotte Augusta. Henry had three older sisters. His oldest sister, Florence Stacpoole, wrote books about health.

Henry loved nature very much. He said this love came from his mother. She grew up in the wild forests of Canada until she was twelve. After his father died in 1870, his mother raised Henry and his sisters by herself. When Henry was young, he had breathing problems. Because of this, his family moved to Nice, in the south of France, for a long time in 1871.

School Days

Henry went to a boarding school in Portarlington, Ireland. He did not enjoy his time there. He wrote that his classmates were rough and made him feel like "a little [King] Arthur in a cage of baboons." One night, he even tried to run away.

Later, his family moved to London. Henry then went to Malvern College in Worcestershire. This school was much better for him. He studied medicine at St George's and St Mary's hospitals. He became a doctor in 1891. However, he was more interested in writing than in medicine. He only worked as a doctor sometimes, like on a ship.

Becoming a Writer

When he was young, Henry became friends with Pearl Craigie, also known as John Oliver Hobbes. This friendship helped him publish his first poem. In 1890, he met other writers and artists. This group influenced his first novel, The Intended (1894). This book was about two people who looked alike and switched places. It was not very successful.

Years later, Stacpoole rewrote this story as The Man Who Lost Himself (1918). This time, it was a big success. His early books were quite unique but did not become popular. By the early 1900s, Henry Stacpoole became a full-time writer. He once said he wrote 2,000 words every day. He was inspired by writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Rise to Fame

In 1905, Henry found success with a funny romance novel called Fanny Lambert. Then, in 1907, his sea adventure story Crimson Azaleas became popular. In this book, two sailors adopt a Japanese orphan. He also wrote articles for newspapers like the Daily Express.

On December 17, 1907, he married Margaret Ann Robson. After their wedding, they moved to Stebbing, Essex. There, Stacpoole met famous writer H.G. Wells.

The Blue Lagoon and Its Impact

Henry Stacpoole's most famous book, The Blue Lagoon, came out in 1908. It was reprinted many times and made into films in 1923, 1949, and 1980.

The story is about two cousins, Dicky and Emmeline Lestrange. They get stuck on a faraway island with a beautiful blue lagoon. An old sailor named Paddy Button takes care of them at first. But he dies after a few years. The children, scared, move to another part of the island. Five years later, they fall in love and have a baby boy. They name him Hannah. They live happily until they are forced to leave their island home.

The Blue Lagoon was part of a popular trend of stories about childhood and fantasy. Other famous books from this time include The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan. Stacpoole's book also influenced Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Henry Stacpoole wrote two sequels to The Blue Lagoon: The Garden of God (1923) and The Gates of Morning (1925).

In 1920, The Blue Lagoon was made into a play. It was very successful and ran for eight months.

Later Works and Interests

After The Blue Lagoon, Henry Stacpoole became very famous. He wrote over sixty books, mostly fiction. His books were popular in America and translated into many European languages. He loved to travel, and his stories took readers to places like ancient Athens, Iceland, and France.

He also wrote some books using the name Tyler de Saix, like The Vulture's Prey (1909). His book The Pools of Silence (1910) was about the terrible things happening in the Congo Free State. After reading it, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who wrote Sherlock Holmes) helped organize a meeting to talk about these problems.

During World War I, Henry and his wife moved to Castle Hedingham. Later, they moved to London. In 1922, he moved to Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. He wrote about this place in The Story of my Village (1947). He also wrote poetry and translated poems by Sappho and François Villon.

After his first wife, Margaret, died in 1934, he created a pond and a bird "sanctuary" in her memory in Bonchurch. In 1938, he married Margaret's sister, Florence Robson. He did not have any children.

Henry Stacpoole loved nature deeply. He started the Penguin Club to protect seabirds from oil pollution. He cared about this cause since the 1920s. He also wrote two books about his life, Men and Mice (1942) and More Men and Mice (1945). Like Conan Doyle, Stacpoole believed in fairies after seeing photos of them taken by two young girls in the 1920s. Henry Stacpoole was a tall, cheerful man.

He passed away on April 12, 1951, in a hospital in Shanklin, Isle of Wight, after surgery. He was buried at St Boniface Church, Bonchurch.

Henry Stacpoole's Books

Movies and Plays Based on His Books