Born Feburary 5, 1856, Douglas Sladen was a travel writer, author and editor of Who's Who between 1897-1899. He collected all the correspondence he had with prominent people of his time into 70 scrapbooks. Many of the letters are from well known literary and political figures. The collection is housed in the Old Town Hall, Richmond.
He studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and went to Australia (1879), where he became the first professor of history in the University of Sydney. Subsequently he traveled much and settled in London as a writer.
LOVE we the warmth and light of tropic lands,
The strange bright fruit, the feathery fanspread leaves,
The glowing mornings and the mellow eves,
The strange shells scattered on the golden sands,
...
’T IS Christmas, and the North wind blows; ’t was two years yesterday
Since from the Lusitania’s bows I looked o’er Table Bay,
A tripper round the narrow world, a pilgrim of the main,
Expecting when her sails unfurled to start for home again.
...
TOUCH not that maid:
She is a flower, and changeth but to fade.
Fragrant is she, and fair
As any shape that haunts this lower air;
...
You have bearded the lion in his den,
You have singed the original cricket
Upon his own hearth, and beaten his men
...
I SAT upon a windy mountain height,
On a huge rock outstanding from the rest;
The sun had sunk behind a neighboring crest,
Leaving chill shade; but looking down, my sight
...