Poet, novelist and historian. He also had a very powerful role as a government adviser, particularly on Irish issues and with regard to the study of English in England.

Born in Bilston, Staffordshire in 1862, Newbolt was educated at Clifton School and Oxford University.  After his studies Newbolt became a barrister.  Higly respected, Newbolt was a lawyer, novelist, playwright and magazine editor.  Above all, he was a poet who championed the virtues of chivalry and sportsmanship combined in the service of the British Empire.  Although his first novel, Taken from the Enemy, was published in time for his thirtieth birthday in 1892, Newbolt’s reputation was established in 1897 in a poem written about a schoolboy cricketer who grows up to fight in Africa, "Vitaï Lampada:. The poem was well received both critically and publicly at the time