C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne
C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, born in 1865 in Bibury, Gloucestershire, was an English author known for his contributions to adventure and scientific romance literature. After attending Bradford Grammar School and Clare College at Cambridge, he began his career in journalism, writing for various magazines, notably as the advice columnist Aunt Ermyntrude. Hyne's literary work features a blend of adventure narratives reminiscent of authors like Edward Bulwer-Lytton and H. Rider Haggard, alongside scientific romances inspired by H. G. Wells. His notable works include "Beneath Your Very Boots," which explores themes of subterranean civilizations, and "The Lost Continent," a novel centered on the legend of Atlantis. He is perhaps best recognized for creating the character Captain Kettle in 1895, who became popular through a series of adventures published in Pearson's Magazine. Hyne's literary output reflects the cultural trends of his time and has secured him a position among early 20th-century adventure novelists. He passed away in 1944 in Yorkshire, leaving a legacy that, while overshadowed by his contemporaries, still contributes to the genre.
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C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne
- Born: May 11, 1865
- Birthplace: Bilbury, Gloucestershire, England
- Died: March 10, 1944
- Place of death: Skipton-in-Craven, Yorkshire, England
Biography
Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne was born in 1865 in Bibury, Gloucestershire, England, the son of Charles Hyne, vicar of Brierly, and Frances Wooton Hyne. He attended the local Bradford Grammar School and then worked in the coal mines. He later enrolled at Clare College, Cambridge University, where he received his B.A. and M.A.
After completing his education, Hyne worked for several magazines, including a stint as the advice columnist Aunt Ermyntrude. He also wrote novels. A prolific author, Hyne wrote some fiction in the popular adventure style of Edward Bulwer-Lytton and H. Rider Haggard and scientific romances in the manner of H. G. Wells.
In his first novel, Beneath Your Very Boots: Being a Few Striking Episodes from the Life of Anthony Merlwood Haltoun, Esq. (1889), the hero finds a subterranean race of humans who live under a religious tyranny; he is able to return to the surface with a beautiful woman with whom he has fallen in love. Perhaps Hyne’s most famous scientific romance is The Lost Continent, (1900), a novel about Atlantis, one of many novels inspired by Ignatius Donnelly’s study Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1880). Hyne’s Empire of the World (1910) belongs to a subgenre of novels predicting a future European war, best exemplified by Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898). In Hyne’s vision, a war between England and Germany is stopped by the use of a powerful energy ray, invented by a scientist who uses his discovery to enforce peace. Hyne also wrote under the pen name of Weatherby Chesney.
In 1895, Hyne created his most famous character, the red-haired Welsh seafarer Captain Kettle, who appeared in his serial novel, Honour of Thieves. Pearson’s Magazine, looking for a serial character to compete with rival serial heroes such as Sherlock Holmes in The Strand Magazine, commissioned Hyne to write additional Captain Kettle adventures for fifty guineas each. Hyne eventually published numerous novels about Kettle’s exploits.
Hyne married Elsie Haggas in 1897; they had two children, a daughter and a son, who fought in World War I and was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. After a life which included much travel as well as writing, Hyne died in 1944 in Skipton-in-Carven, Yorkshire, England. Hyne can firmly be placed in the second-tier of popular English adventure novelists, of whom only those in the first-tier, such as Wells, Haggard, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are much read today.