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Author

John Wilcox

16 fiction

John Wilcox (1931–2018) was a British historical novelist and former journalist, best known for military adventure fiction set during the height of the Victorian Empire. Born in Birmingham, he began his career in journalism and became an award-winning reporter before moving into industry. In the mid-1990s he sold his business and devoted himself to writing full-time. Wilcox’s fiction drew strongly on his interest in military history and on his own family background: several of his relatives served with distinction during the First World War. He later lived in Salisbury and also wrote non-fiction and memoir.

Wilcox’s principal achievement is the long-running Simon Fonthill series, which follows a British soldier and adventurer through many of the imperial conflicts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Beginning with The Horns of the Buffalo, set during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, the sequence moves through Afghanistan, the First Boer War, Egypt and the Sudan, the Scramble for Africa, China and Tibet. Titles include The Road to Kandahar, The Diamond Frontier, Last Stand at Majuba Hill, The Guns of El Kebir, Siege of Khartoum, The Shangani Patrol, The War of the Dragon Lady and Treachery in Tibet. Wilcox combines traditional military adventure with substantial historical detail, using Fonthill’s career to follow the changing nature of warfare and Britain’s imperial involvement across Africa and Asia.

Periods and events

Battle of Rorke’s Drift1879 Boxer Rebellion1899–1901 CE East African Campaign of World War I1914–1918 Second Anglo-Afghan War1878–1880 CE Second Boer War1899–1902 CE Western Front1914–1918 CE

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by John Wilcox (1 series)

Simon Fonthill in Order

by John Wilcox 13 books 4.2(4,074)

The Simon Fonthill series follows an unconventional British officer and intelligence scout through the wars and crises of the late Victorian and Edwardian empire. Beginning in southern Africa in 1879, Simon Fonthill and his Welsh comrade ‘352’ Jenkins move from regular army service into scouting, diplomacy and irregular…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by John Wilcox (3 books)

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