George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 - 16 November 1902), was a prolific English novelist and a special correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His other works include The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883) and In Freedom's Cause (1885). Henty's heroes - which occasionally included young ladies - are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of 'pluck' yet are also modest. On the Irawaddy tells the story of British adventure on the great Irawaddy River in Burma during the 19th century, the time of the First Anglo-Burmese War.