Henry Fielding
1707–1754 · English
Novelist, playwright and magistrate
Henry Fielding (1707–1754) first made his living in London theatre. His comedies made him a leading professional playwright of the 1730s. After increased censorship of the stage, he turned to political writing while training as a barrister, then began writing novels. He attended Eton from 1719 to 1724, where he formed friendships with George Lyttelton and William Pitt.
His novels include Shamela, Joseph Andrews, Jonathan Wild and Tom Jones. Published in 1749, Tom Jones follows an abandoned child raised in Somerset through travel, contested parentage, love and social ambition. Fielding’s narrator repeatedly steps forward to address readers; comedy and moral judgment share the book’s method.
Fielding later served as a magistrate in Westminster. When his health declined, he retired from public life in 1753 and sailed to Lisbon hoping to recover. He died there in October 1754. The playwright who made a comic art of human folly also spent his last years working in local justice.