Horatio Hornblower

fictional character

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Article History

Horatio Hornblower, fictional character, a British naval officer who is the hero of 12 books (mostly novels) by C.S. Forester that are set at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. The Hornblower novels begin with The Happy Return (1937; also published as Beat to Quarters) and conclude with the unfinished novel Hornblower and the Crisis (1967; also published as Hornblower During the Crisis and Two Stories: Hornblower’s Temptation and The Last Encounter). Other novels in the series include A Ship of the Line (1938), Flying Colours (1938), and Lord Hornblower (1946). The Hornblower Companion (1964) is a book of anecdotes and maps that provides background on the series. C. Northcote Parkinson wrote a “biography” of this fictional hero, The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower (1970). The character was perhaps most famously played by Gregory Peck in the film Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951). Beginning with Horatio Hornblower: The Duel (1998), Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd played Hornblower in a series of made-for-television movies.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.