Helps, Arthur (1813–1875)

English essayist and historian. Essays Written in the Intervals of Business appeared 1841, Friends in Council 1847–59, and Conversations on War and General Culture 1871. On history he wrote The Conquerors of the New World 1848–52 and The Spanish Conquest in America 1855–61. He also wrote biographies of Bartolomé de las Casas, Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortés. Knighted 1872.

He was born in Streatham, London, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. Appointed clerk to the Privy Council 1860, he became a favourite of Queen Victoria. She entrusted to him the editing of Speeches and Addresses of the Prince Consort 1862 and her own Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands 1868.