Henry Joseph Spalding
Henry Spalding (September 27, 1840[1] - May 22, 1907) was a retired lieutenant colonel in the British military. He was Brevet Major[2] of post near Rocke's Drift in the 104th Foot Infantry during Battle of Rorke's Drift on 22 Jan 1879 of Anglo-Zulu War. On June 8th of 1879, Henry Spalding, then Major, Deputy Assistant-Adjutant-General, acted as marshal at the funeral of Napoléon, Prince Imperial.[3] In addition to his military career, Spalding was a noted translator from Russian. He completed the first complete English translation of Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin in 1881.[4]
Life[edit]
Spalding was born into the family of Thomas Spalding, a wholesale stationer[5]. He was commissioned as Ensign in the 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) rising to Lieutenant and Captain in 1859 and 1868 respectively.[6]
At some point in the 1870s, Spalding was posted at the British Embassy in Saint Petersburg, where he learnt Russian.[7] In 1874, he published his first translation, Khiva and Turkestan, in 1874.[8]
Towards the end of the decade, Spalding was transferred to South Africa where he played a key role in the Anglo-Zulu War. He was Brevet Major of the provision depot near Rocke's Drift of the 104th Foot Infantry during the Battle of Rorke's Drift on 22 Jan 1879. Henry's decision to abandon his post in search of a missing regiment and to leave Lieutenant John Chard in charge of the post was a key component of British victory of Battle of Rorke's Drift.
When Napoléon, Prince Imperial died, Major Spalding was one of the British representatives at his funeral, standing in for Colonel Bellairs.[9]
After he retired from the military in 1881 as Lieutenant-Colonel, Spalding continued his scholarly work. He translated Pushkin's classic work Eugene Onegin into English with bibliographical notes the same year.[10] Ivan Turgenev called his translation astonishingly faithful, and the text remained the only complete translation for fifty years.[11] Even later, the Russian critic Ernest Simmons praised Spalding for his translation and scholarly notes on Pushkin's novel in verse. [12] [13]. In 1891 he published a military history text 'Epochs of the British Army'
Spalding died in London on May 22nd 1907, his death was registered at St George's Hanover Square Church.
Translations[edit]
- Khiva and Turkestan, 1874.
- Eugene Onegin, 1881.
References[edit]
- ↑ "rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic - Henry Spalding 104th Foot". www.rorkesdriftvc.com.
- ↑ "The Battle of Rorke's Drift". www.zulu.org.za.
- ↑ "HOW THE PRINCE IMPERIAL DIED". July 9, 1879. p. 7 – via Trove.
- ↑ "Eugene Onéguine [onegin], by Alexander Pushkin". www.gutenberg.org.
- ↑ "Brevet Major. Henry Spalding of Rorke's Drift and Information for Columns". www.1879zuluwar.com.
- ↑ "The New Annual Army List, Militia List, and Yeomanry Cavalry List". 1873.
- ↑ Cross, Anthony (November 2012). A People Passing Rude: British Responses to Russian Culture. ISBN 9781909254107. Search this book on
- ↑ "Khiva and Turkestan, tr. from the Russ. by H. Spalding". May 24, 1874 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of History Of The Zulu War, by A. Wilmot". www.gutenberg.org.
- ↑ Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich; Spalding, Henry (May 24, 1881). "Eugene Onéguine; a romance of Russian life in verse". London, Macmillan and co. – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Waddington, Patrick (18 June 1980). Turgenev and England. ISBN 9781349034314. Search this book on
- ↑ "Eugene Onéguine". www.peterharrington.co.uk.
- ↑ Simmons, Ernest J. (1938). "English Translations of Eugene Onegin". The Slavonic and East European Review. 17 (49): 198–208. JSTOR 4203469.
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