Captain Harry Willes Darell de Windt (9 April 1856 – 30 November 1933) was an explorer and travel writer. His books were published under the name of Harry de Windt.

Early life

Harry de Windt was born on 9 April 1856 in Paris. He was the son of Capt. Joseph Clayton Jennyns de Windt, of Blunsdon Hall, between Swindon and Highworth in Wiltshire, England, and Elizabeth Sarah Johnson. Among his siblings was sister Margaret Alice Lili de Windt, who married Charles Brooke.

He was admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1875, but did not take a degree, travelling with his brother-in-law.

Career

From 1876 to 1878, de Windt served as aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. In July 1902, he reached Dawson after traveling from Siberia on a river steamer with Viscount Desclinchams, Belgrade of Paris, George Harding (an English photographer), and Stephen Rastorguyef (a Russian from Yakutakat who "the Russian government insisted should accompany De Windt through the wilds of Siberia").

Personal life

On 18 July 1882 at St George's, Hanover Square in London, Harry married Frances Laura Arabella Long, sister of Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long. The couple had a daughter, Margaret, in 1884 and divorced in 1888. He married Hilda Frances E. Clark, who died, without issue, in 1924. Three years later he married the actress Charlotte Elizabeth Ihle, better known by her stage name Elaine Inescourt.

Harry died at Bournemouth on 30 November 1933.

Works

  • On the equator (1882)
  • From Pekin to Calais by land (1889)
  • A ride to India across Persia and Baluchistan (1891)
  • The New Siberia. London: Chapman and Hall. 1896.
  • Through the gold-fields of Alaska to Bering Straits (1898)
  • From Paris to New York by land (1903), 1904 2nd printing

References

  • Harry de Windt biographical information.