William Ernest Henley is most noted for his poetry of which he wrote several volumes with the outstanding contribution being the poem 'Invictus'. His life was overshadowed by a great deal of ill health and although he died at the young age of 53 he contributed much to Victorian literature. His partner in the plays we publish here made a somewhat greater contribution to the literary world. Indeed in the Scottish canon to be placed alongside Burns is high praise indeed but it's a rightful place for one of Scotland's finest novelists. Born in 1850 he managed to cram much into his 44 years...

William Ernest Henley was born in Gloucester on 23 August 1849, the eldest of six children. Between 1861 and 1867, Henley was a pupil at the Crypt Grammar School. It was also from this time that William suffered from tuberculosis of the bone that resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee in 1868-69. Frequent illness often kept him from school, although the misfortunes of his father's business also contributed. In 1867, Henley passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination and moved to London to establish himself as a journalist. However, this quest was interrupted over the next...