Henry Fielding (1707-1754) was an English novelist, born in Sharpham Park, Glastonbury. He was educated at Eaton and studied law at the University of Leiden. Early in his life he supported himself by writing for the stage. His most notable stage work was The Tragedy of Tragedies, or Tom Thumb, which was written in 1730. In 1740 he was admitted to the bar. From 1739 to 1741 he edited a periodical, the Champion.
Fielding may have been the author of a parody on Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela. Published in 1741, it was called Shamela. He was the author of a Richardson parody published in 1742, called The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. Fielding's Miscellanies, a three-volume work was published in 1743. This included his great satirical novel Jonathan Wild the Great and his Journey from This World to the Next.
Fielding's great novel Tom Jones appeared in 1749, and Amelia was published in 1751. Under the pseudonym Sir Alexander Drawcansir, Fielding started the Covent-Garden Journal in 1752. In 1754 he made a voyage to Lisbon to recover his broken health but died there. An account of this voyage, called Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, was published posthumously.
