Bertram Mitford

Bertram Mitford (13 June 1855 – 4 October 1914) was an English colonial writer, novelist, essayist and cultural critic who wrote forty-four books, most of which are set in South Africa.

He was a contemporary of H. Rider Haggard. A member of the Mitford family, he was the third son of Edward Ledwich Osbaldeston Mitford (1811–1912). The latter became the 31st Lord of the manor of Mitford in 1895 (following the death of his brother Colonel John Philip Osbaldeston Mitford) and died at Mitford Hall, Northumberland, in 1912.

Bertram Mitford was born in Bath in 1855, educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, went to southern Africa in 1874, living in Cheltenham 1881, married Zima Helen Gentle, daughter of Alfred Ebden, 9 March 1886 in Brighton, had daughter Yseulte Helen 3 June 1887 (died July 1969), had son Roland Bertram 17 June 1891 (died 16 April 1932), living in London 1891, and died in Cowfold, Sussex of liver disease in 1914.

He belonged to four London clubs: Junior Athenaeum, Savage, New Vagabond, and Wigwam.

Partial bibliography Our Arms in Zululand – 1881 (poems) Through the Zulu Country, its Battlefields and its People – Kegan, Paul, 1883 (non-fiction) The Fire Trumpet – Blackett, 1889 The Weird of Deadly Hollow – Sutton, 1891 Golden Face – Trischler, 1892 Tween Snow and Fire – Heinemann, 1892 The Gun-Runner – Chatto & Windus, 1893 The Curses of Clement Waynflete – Ward, Lock, 1894 The King's Assegai – Chatto & Windus, 1894 The Luck of Gerard Ridgeley – Chatto & Windus, 1894 Renshaw Fanning's Quest – Chatto & Windus, 1894 The White Shield – Cassell, 1895 A Veldt Official – Ward, Lock, 1895 The Sign of the Spider – Methuen, 1896 The Expiation of Wynne Palliser – Ward, Lock, 1896 Fordham's Feud – Ward, Lock, 1897 The Induna's Wife – F. V. White, 1898 The Ruby Sword – F. V. White, 1899 Aletta – F. V. White, 1900 John Ames, Native Commissioner – F. V. White, 1900 The Triumph of Hilary Blachland – Chatto & Windus, 1901 The Word of the Sorceress – Hutchinson, 1902 A Veldt Vendetta – Ward, Lock, 1903 Dorrien of Cranston – Hurst, 1903 Forging the Blades – Nash, 1903 Haviland's Chum – Chatto & Windus, 1903 In the Whirl of the Rising – Methuen, 1904 The Red Derelict – Methuen, 1904 The Sirdar's Oath – F. V. White, 1904 A Frontier Mystery – F. V. White, 1905 A Secret of the Lebombo – Hurst, 1905 Harley Greenoak's Charge – Chatto & Windus, 1906 The White Hand and the Black – John Long, 1907 A Legacy of the Granite Hills – John Long, 1909 A Border Scourge – John Long, 1910 A Duel Resurrection – Ward, Lock, 1910 Ravenshaw of Rietholme – Ward, Lock, 1910 The Heath Hover Mystery – Ward, Lock, 1911 The River of Unrest – Ward, Lock, 1912 Seaford's Snake – Ward, Lock, 1912 Selmin of Selmingfold – Ward, Lock, 1912 Averno – Ward, Lock, 1913 An Island of Eden – Ward, Lock, 1913