Charles Kingsley was born near Dartmoor and educated at King's College, London, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He took holy orders, and eventually held canonries at Chester (1869) and Westminster (1873). His enormous literary output is varied, comprising poetry, fiction, history, and children's literature (The Water Babies, 1863). His profound concern with social reform is reflected in pamphlets and in his novel Alton Locke (1850), while his enthusiasm for patriotic historical fiction produced Westward Ho! (1855) and Hereward the Wake (1866). Kingsley was Professor of modern history at Cambridge from 1860 to 1869, where his controversy with John Henry Newman provoked the latter's Apologia. Kingsley also published numerous sermons.