Bertram Mitford (13 June 1855 – 4 October 1914) was an English colonial writer, novelist, essayist and cultural critic who wrote forty-four books, most of which are set in South Africa.
He was a contemporary of H. Rider Haggard. A member of the Mitford family, he was the third son of Edward Ledwich Osbaldeston Mitford (1811–1912). The latter became the 31st Lord of the manor of Mitford in 1895 (following the death of his brother Colonel John Philip Osbaldeston Mitford) and died at Mitford Hall, Northumberland, in 1912.
Bertram Mitford was born in Bath in 1855, educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, went to southern Africa in 1874, living in Cheltenham 1881, married Zima Helen Gentle, daughter of Alfred Ebden, 9 March 1886 in Brighton, had daughter Yseulte Helen 3 June 1887 (died July 1969), had son Roland Bertram 17 June 1891 (died 16 April 1932), living in London 1891, and died in Cowfold, Sussex of liver disease in 1914.
He belonged to four London clubs: Junior Athenaeum, Savage, New Vagabond, and Wigwam.
Partial bibliography
Our Arms in Zululand – 1881 (poems)
Through the Zulu Country, its Battlefields and its People – Kegan, Paul, 1883 (non-fiction)
The Fire Trumpet – Blackett, 1889
The Weird of Deadly Hollow – Sutton, 1891
Golden Face – Trischler, 1892
Tween Snow and Fire – Heinemann, 1892
The Gun-Runner – Chatto & Windus, 1893
The Curses of Clement Waynflete – Ward, Lock, 1894
The King's Assegai – Chatto & Windus, 1894
The Luck of Gerard Ridgeley – Chatto & Windus, 1894
Renshaw Fanning's Quest – Chatto & Windus, 1894
The White Shield – Cassell, 1895
A Veldt Official – Ward, Lock, 1895
The Sign of the Spider – Methuen, 1896
The Expiation of Wynne Palliser – Ward, Lock, 1896
Fordham's Feud – Ward, Lock, 1897
The Induna's Wife – F. V. White, 1898
The Ruby Sword – F. V. White, 1899
Aletta – F. V. White, 1900
John Ames, Native Commissioner – F. V. White, 1900
The Triumph of Hilary Blachland – Chatto & Windus, 1901
The Word of the Sorceress – Hutchinson, 1902
A Veldt Vendetta – Ward, Lock, 1903
Dorrien of Cranston – Hurst, 1903
Forging the Blades – Nash, 1903
Haviland's Chum – Chatto & Windus, 1903
In the Whirl of the Rising – Methuen, 1904
The Red Derelict – Methuen, 1904
The Sirdar's Oath – F. V. White, 1904
A Frontier Mystery – F. V. White, 1905
A Secret of the Lebombo – Hurst, 1905
Harley Greenoak's Charge – Chatto & Windus, 1906
The White Hand and the Black – John Long, 1907
A Legacy of the Granite Hills – John Long, 1909
A Border Scourge – John Long, 1910
A Duel Resurrection – Ward, Lock, 1910
Ravenshaw of Rietholme – Ward, Lock, 1910
The Heath Hover Mystery – Ward, Lock, 1911
The River of Unrest – Ward, Lock, 1912
Seaford's Snake – Ward, Lock, 1912
Selmin of Selmingfold – Ward, Lock, 1912
Averno – Ward, Lock, 1913
An Island of Eden – Ward, Lock, 1913