12 Facts About Edward Heron-Allen

Edward Heron-Allen was educated at Elstree and Harrow School from 1876, where he developed an interest in classics, science and music ; however, he did not attend university.

The practice office was located close to the violin-making district and Edward Heron-Allen made the acquaintance of Georges Chanot III, a distinguished violin maker, and learned how to make violins making some himself.

Edward Heron-Allen subsequently produced a book on violin making that was still in print over a hundred years later.

Edward Heron-Allen was an expert on the art of chiromancy or palmistry, having read palms and analysed the handwriting of luminaries of the period, he wrote several books on the subject and in 1886 went on a lecture tour of the United States.

Edward Heron-Allen published a literal translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam from the then earliest manuscript in the Bodleian Library, followed by other studies of various versions up to 1908.

Edward Heron-Allen published a translation entitled The Lament of Baba Tahir from a little-known Persian dialect, Luri.

When Edward Heron-Allen's father died in 1911, Edward Heron-Allen retired from practising the law and permanently moved to Selsey in West Sussex.

Edward Heron-Allen compiled a library of 12,000 books, including a collection of rare books on the violin, which he bequeathed to the Royal School of Music.

Edward Heron-Allen served in World War I and his journal was eventually published in 2002.

Edward Heron-Allen joined the staff of the Directorate of Military Intelligence MI7b at the War Office in May 1918, where he dealt specifically with aerial propaganda.

Edward Heron-Allen spent many years studying foraminifera, for this work he was eventually elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May, 1919.

Edward Heron-Allen was noted for his fiction writing, especially his stories which were early examples of horror and fantasy.