Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Inglis, Henry David
INGLIS, HENRY DAVID (1795–1835), traveller and miscellaneous writer, the only son of a Scottish advocate, was born at Edinburgh in 1795, and was educated for commercial life; but he found work in an office uncongenial, turned to literature, and travelled abroad. Under the nom de guerre of Derwent Conway, he published his first work, ‘Tales of the Ardennes,’ 1825. It met with a favourable reception, and there followed in quick succession ‘Narrative of a Journey through Norway, part of Sweden, and the Islands and States of Denmark,’ 1826, ‘Solitary Walks through many Lands,’ 1828, and ‘A Tour through Switzerland and the South of France and the Pyrenees,’ 1830 and 1831. For a short time before 1830 he edited a local newspaper at Chesterfield in Derbyshire, but soon relinquished it for further foreign travel. Of his journeys through Spain and the Tyrol in 1830 and following years, he published valuable accounts, ‘Spain in 1830’ appearing in 1831, and ‘The Tyrol, with a Glance at Bavaria,’ in 1833. The former is his best work. In 1832 Inglis wrote a novel, in three volumes, entitled ‘The New Gil Blas, or Pedro of Pennaflor,’ 1832, delineating social life in Spain, but this effort, though not without merit, was a failure. In the same year he went to the Channel islands, and edited a Jersey newspaper, called ‘The British Critic,’ for two years. He published in 1834 a description, in two volumes, of the Channel islands. The same year he published, after an Irish tour, ‘Ireland in 1834,’ which attracted attention, was quoted as an authority by speakers in parliament in 1835, and reached a fifth edition in 1838. Subsequently Inglis settled in London, and in 1837 contributed to ‘Colburn's New Monthly Magazine,’ his last literary work, ‘Rambles in the Footsteps of Don Quixote,’ with illustrations by George Cruikshank. He died of disease of the brain, the result of overwork, at his residence in Bayham Terrace, Regent's Park, on Friday, 20 March 1835. All his books are agreeably written, and supply serviceable information.
[Athenæum, 28 March 1835; Chambers's Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen, ii. 336; Gent. Mag. September 1835; Brit. Mus. Cat.]