Richard Harding Davis

Infobox Writer
name = Richard Harding Davis


imagesize = 125px
caption =
pseudonym =
birthdate = birth date|1864|4|18
birthplace = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
deathdate = death date and age|1916|4|11|1863|4|18
deathplace = New York City, New York
occupation = writer, war correspondent, journalist
nationality = American
period = 19th and early 20th Century
genre = history, romantic novels, short stories
subject = Africa, War, Cuba, Europe
movement =
influences = H. Rider Haggard
influenced = Sinclair Lewis
website =

Richard Harding Davis (18 April 1864—11 April 1916) was a popular writer of fiction and drama, and a journalist famous for his coverage of the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and the First World War. Davis, a managing editor of Harper's Weekly, was one of the world's leading war correspondents at the time of the Second Boer War in South Africa. As an American, he had the unique opportunity to see the war first-hand from both the British and Boer perspectives. Davis also worked as a reporter for the "New York Herald", "The Times", and "Scribner's Magazine".

He was popular among the leading writers of his time, and was considered the model for illustrator Charles Dana Gibson's dashing "Gibson man", the male equivalent of his famous Gibson Girl. He is also referenced early in Sinclair Lewis's book, Dodsworth as the example of an exciting, adventure-seeking legitimate hero.

In 1898, at the time of the Spanish-American War, Davis was on a U.S. Navy ship when he witnessed the shelling of Matanzas, Cuba, during the Santiago campaign. Davis' story made headlines, but as a result, the Navy prohibited reporters from being aboard any U.S. ship for the rest of the war.

Davis was a good friend of Teddy Roosevelt and he helped create the legend surrounding the Rough Riders, even becoming an honorary member. Some have even gone so far to accuse Davis of involvement in the William Randolph Hearst's alleged plot to start the Spanish-American War in order to boost newspaper sales; however, Davis refused to work for Hearst after a dispute over fictionalizing one of this articles.

Despite his alleged association with Yellow journalism, his writings of life and travel in Central America, the Caribbean, Rhodesia, South Africa during the Second Boer War, and his coverage of the Salonika Front of the First World War have remained a vivid portrait of the time.

A plaque denoting his boyhood home can be seen at 21st and Chancellor Streets in Philadelphia. He attended The Episcopal Academy, and then later Lehigh University and Johns Hopkins.

Davis' "Gallegher and Other Stories" became the series "Gallegher", starring Roger Mobley, Edmond O'Brien and Harvey Korman on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

Partial list of works

*"The West From A Car Window" (1892)
*"Exiles, and other stories" (1894)
*"Three Gringos in Venezuela" (1896)
*gutenberg|no=403|name=Soldiers of Fortune (1897)
*gutenberg|no=8380|name=Cuba in War Time (1897) - Also available in audio: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=8807
*"Dr. Jameson's radiers vs. the Johannesburg reformers" (1897)
*"The Cuban & Porto Rican campaigns" (1899)
*"Cinderella, and other stories" (1899)
*gutenberg|no=5956|name=Gallegher, and other stories (1899)
*gutenberg|no=1620|name=The Lion and the Unicorn (1899)
*"With Both Armies" (1902) - Davis on the Second Boer War
*gutenberg|no=1620|name=Ranson's folly (1902)
*"The bar sinister" (1903)
*gutenberg|no=3029|name=Real Soldiers of Fortune (1906) - an early biography of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D.S.O., (1861-1947), Chief of Scouts, General Henry Douglas McIver (1841-1907), James Harden-Hickey (1854–1898), Captain Philo McGiffen (1860-1897), William Walker (1824–1860)
*"The Congo and coasts of Africa" (1907)
*"Once Upon A Time " (1910)
*gutenberg|no=1620|name=Notes of a War Correspondent (1910)
*"Vera, the Medium" (1910)
*gutenberg|no=1824|name=Peace Manoeuvres; a play in one act (1914)
* "With the French in France and Salonika" (1916)

References

*cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=32 | date=1948
*cite book | last=Osborn | first=Scott | authorlink=Scott C. Osborn | title=Richard Harding Davis | location=Boston | publisher=Twayne Publishers | pages=76 | date=1978

External links

*
* [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/405 Adventures and Letters of Richard Harding Davis] from Project Gutenberg
* [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/406 Appreciations of Richard Harding Davis] from Project Gutenberg
* [http://academic2.american.edu/~wjc/wjc3/notlikely.html "Not likely sent: The Remington-Hearst 'telegrams'"] .
* [http://wiredforbooks.org/arthurlubow/ 1992 audio interview of Arthur Lubow, author of The Reporter Who Would Be King: The Biography of Richard Harding Davis. Interview by Don Swaim of CBS Radio - RealAudio]
* [http://www.ebooktakeaway.com/richard_harding_davis_1864_1916 Free book downloads in HTML, PDF, text formats] at ebooktakeaway.com

Persondata
NAME= Davis, Richard Harding
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= writer, war correspondent, journalist
DATE OF BIRTH= 1864-4-18
PLACE OF BIRTH= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH= 1916-4-11
PLACE OF DEATH= New York City, New York