William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley (23 August 1849 to 11 July 1903) was an important English poet, critic and editor in late Victorian England. Whilst writing several books of poetry, he is best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus", which was aprised in the 2009 Clint Eastwood film, Invictus. Popular in literary circles, as a one-legged man Henley provided the inspiration for the character Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883), and his daughter Margaret influenced J.M. Barrie’s choice of the name Wendy for the girl-heroine in Peter Pan (1904).