The History of Henry Esmond

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The History of Henry Esmond is a historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that was published in 1852. This work tells the story of Henry Esmond, a colonel in the service of Queen Anne of England. It is considered one of the greatest Victorian historical novels. The novel captures the events of the Battle of the Boyne and the Battle of Blenheim by the army of Marlborough.

Henry begins the tale as an illegitimate orphaned cousin of the Viscount and Lady of Castlewood, a Jacobite family. They gradually embrace him and raise him as part of their family. As he comes of age he joins the unsuccessful campaign to restore James Francis Edward Stuart to the throne. Eventually he comes to accept the Protestant future of England. He marries his mistress Rachel and emigrates to Virginia in 1718, where he settled into a peaceful existence.

The sequel to this novel was The Virginians, written in 1857–59.

The novel's anachronistic illustrations of the reign of Queen Anne, using contemporary (1850s) architecture and furniture designs, led to these being called Queen Anne style.