Harold Edward Bindloss

Harold Edward Bindloss was an English novelist who wrote many adventure novels set in western Canada, and some in West Africa and England. His writing was strongly based on his own experience, whether as a seaman, a dock worker, a farmer or a planter.

Biography

Bindloss was born in on 6 April 1866 in Wavertree, Liverpool, England. the eldest son of Edward Williams Bindloss, an iron merchant with six men in his employ at the time of the 1881 census. Bindloss had three sisters and four brothers. He spent several years at sea and in various colonies, especially in Africa, before returning to England in 1896, his health broken by malaria. Bindloss was absent from the family home in 1881, but the 1891 census found him living at home and serving as an iron-merchant's clerk, presumably for his father.
He apparently began work as a clerk in a shipping office but this did not suit his adventurous spirit, and he was at various times a farmer in Canada, a sailor, a dock worker and a planter. He returned to England in 1896, presumably from West Africa, as he returned sick of malaria. Given that he spent more than a decade at sea and in the colonies, it seems likely that his experience abroad was in two parts, first as a youth, and then as a young man, after 1891.
After returning home in 1896 he began working as a journalist, and then wrote two non-fiction books based on his travels, the first, In the Niger Country about West Africa, and the second, A Wide Dominion about Canada. His first novel was Ainslie's Ju-Ju, set in West Africa which Truth described as "a book that has the double interest and excitement of a story and of a genuine record of travel and adventure mixed together judiciously." This was the first of nearly one hundred novels by Bindloss. The next A Sower of Wheat was set in Canada. This set the pattern for Bindloss, as most of his novels were set in Canada or West Africa. The Guardian refers to him as having two strings to his bow, stories set in Canada or West Africa, with the Canadian stories being remarkably superior.
Bindloss married Mary Simpson Hossack the youngest daughter of Captain Joseph Hossack, a marine surveyor, at St James Church in West Derby, Lancaster, on 12 June 1899. The couple appear not to have had any children as the 1911 census records them as not having had any after twelve years of marriage.
Bindloss was a prolific author. The most common obituary estimate is that he wrote over 40 novels. ABC Bookworld lists 62 books by Bindloss. Kemp states that he wrote two to three books a year in the early 1900s. The Belfast Newsletter states that he published 67 books. However, Jisc Library Hub Discover lists 89 books by Bindloss, the first two being non-fiction and the rest novels.
He is remembered in the name of the town Bindloss, Alberta, Canada, established by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1914.
Bindloss died on 30 December 1945 at Chertsey Hill Nursing Home in Carlisle, England. He had been living at Vallum, Burgh-by-Sands in Cumbria. His estate was valued at £24,774 0s. 9d. His wife had died at home on 2 November 1945, and he was granted probate, as her executor just a fortnight before he died.

Works

Ser	Year	Title	Publisher	Pages	Title in US and Canada	Notes
1	1898	In the Niger Country	Edinburgh: Blackwood & Sons	x, 338 p. 1 fold-out map, 23 cm.
2	1899	A Wide Dominion	London: T. Fisher Unwin	239 p.,
3	1900	Ainslie's Ju-Ju. A Romance of the Hinterland	London: Chatto & Windus	vi. 274 p.,
4	1901	A Sower of Wheat	London: Chatto & Windus	vi. 373 p.,	Lorimer of the Northwest
5	1902	The Concession-Hunters	London: Chatto & Windus	316p.,
6	1902	Sunshine and Snow	London: S.W. Partridge & Co	128, 24 p. : 8 ill.,
7	1903	His Master Purpose	London: John Long	316 p.,	Thurston of Orchard Valley
8	1903	The Mistress of Bonaventure	London: Chatto & Windus	vi. 408 p.,
9	1904	Daventry's Daughter	London: Chatto & Windus	vi. 364 p.,
10	1904	The League of the Leopard	London: John Long	324 p.,
11	1904	True Grit. The Adventures of Two Lads in Western Africa	London: S. W. Partridge & Co	330 p.,
12	1905	Alton of Somasco	London: John Long	375 p.,
13	1905	The Impostor	London: F. V. White & Co	vi. 311 p.,	Winston of the Prairie
14	1905	In the Misty Seas : a Story of the Sealers of Behring Strait	London: S. W. Partridge and Co	330, 32 p., 6 ill.,
15	1906	Beneath Her Station	London: F. V. White & Co	vi. 310 p.,
16	1906	The Cattle-Baron's Daughter	London: John Long	316 p.,
17	1906	A Damaged Reputation	London: F. V. White & Co	vi, 312 p.,
18	1907	Delilah of the Snows	London: John Long	346 p.,
19	1907	The Dust of Conflict	London: John Long	353 p.,
20	1907	His Lady's Pleasure	London: F. V. White & Co	vi. 306 p.,	For Jacinta
21	1908	By Right of Purchase	London: John Long	346 p.,
22	1908	The Liberationist	London: Ward, Lock & Co	351 p.,	Long Odds
23	1908	Thrice Armed	London: John Long	334 p.,
24	1909	The Greater Power	London: John Long	347 p., fs.,
25	1910	Alison's Adventure	London: John Long	335 p.,	A Prairie Courtship
26	1910	The Gold Trail	London: John Long	347 p.,
27	1910	Hawtrey's Deputy	London: Ward, Lock & Co	352 p.,	Masters of the Wheat-lands
28	1910	The Opium Smugglers	London: T. Fisher Unwin	318 p.,	The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound
29	1910	Rancher Carteret	London: John Long	335 p.,
30	1911	The Protector	London: Ward, Lock & Co	320 p.,	Vane of the Timberlands
31	1912	By Right of Passage	London: John Long	318 p. : 1 ill.,
32	1912	The Pioneer	London: Ward, Lock & Co	373 p.,	The Long Portage
33	1912	The Trustee	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	328, 8 p. : col. fs.,	Ranching for Sylvia
34	1913	The Allinson Honour	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320, 16 p. : col. fs.,
35	1913	The Greater Power	London: John Long	318 p.,
36	1913	The Wastrel	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p. : col. fs.,	Prescott of Sackatchewan
37	1914	Blake's Burden	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p. : col. fs.,	The Intriguers
38	1914	Harold's Burden	London: Ward, Lock	320 p. : 1 col. ill.,
39	1914	The Secret of the Reef	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320, 16 p. : col. fs.,
40	1915	The Intruder	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320, 16 p. : col. fs.,	Harding of Allenwood
41	1915	A Risky Game	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320, 16 p., col. fs.,	The Coast of Adventure
42	1916	The Borderer	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p. : col. fs.,	Johnstone of the Border
43	1916	His One Talent	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p. : fs.,	Brandon of the Engineers
44	1917	Carmen's Messenger	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p. : fs.,
45	1917	Crossthwaite of Banisdale	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	255 p., 18 cm.
46	1917	Sadie's Conquest	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	vi, 7-303, 15, fs.,	The Girl from Keller's
47	1918	Agatha's Fortune	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p. : fs.,	The Lure of the North
48	1918	Askew's Victory	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p. : fs.,	The Bucaneer Farmer
49	1919	Dearham's Inheritance	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p. : fs.,	Partners of the Out-trail
50	1919	Wyndham's Partner	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p. : fs.,	Wyndham's Pal
51	1920	The Head of the House	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,	Lister's Great Adventure
52	1920	Stayward's Vindication	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	315, p.,	The Wilderness Mine
53	1921	The Man from the Wilds	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,
54	1921	Musgrave's Luck	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	313, p.,	Kit Musgrave's Luck
55	1922	The Mountaineers	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	310, 10 p.,	Northwest!
56	1923	The Keystone Block	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	308, p.,	The Bush-Rancher
57	1923	The Wilderness Patrol	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	312, p.,
58	1924	Andrew's Folly	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	310, p.,	Green Timber
59	1924	The Boys of Wildcat Ranch	London: Wells Gardner & Co	242 p.,
60	1924	The Lute Player	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	315, p.,	Carson of Red River
61	1925	The Broken Net	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	256 p.,	Prairie Gold
62	1925	A Debt of Honour	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	313 p.,
63	1926	Helen the Conqueror	New York: A.L. Burt	314 p.,
64	1926	Sour Grapes	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	304, p.,	The Broken Trail
65	1927	The Dark Road	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,
66	1927	Footsteps	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	304, p.,
67	1928	The Firm Hand	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,	The Lone Hand
68	1928	Halford's Adventure	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,	Mystery Reef
69	1929	Frontiersmen	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,	The Frontiersman
70	1929	The Harder Way	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,
71	1930	Harden's Escapade	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,	The Man at Willow Ranch
72	1930	A Moorside Feud	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,
73	1931	Carter's Triumph	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,	The Border Trail
74	1931	The Lean Years	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,	The Prairie Patrol
75	1932	Right of Way	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	312, p.,
76	1933	The Loser Pays	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,
77	1933	The Stain of the Forge	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	312, p.,
78	1934	Sonalta Gold	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	314, p.,	Valley Gold
79	1935	The Lady of the Plain	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,
80	1936	The Forbidden River	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	314 p.,
81	1937	Fellside Folk	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	317, p.,
82	1938	Posted Missing	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,
83	1939	Valeria Goes West	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	319 p.,
84	1940	What's Mine I Hold	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	320 p.,
85	1941	The Call of the Soil	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	316, p.,
86	1942	The Secret of the Scree	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	288 p.,
87	1943	Caverhills	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	254, p.,
88	1945	The Laird o' Borrans	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	224 p.,
89	1946	Richardsons of the Forge	London: Ward, Lock & Co.	239 p.,