Biography
James Edmund Harting was the eldest son of James Vincent Harting and Alexine Milne Fotheringham. He was educated at Downside Abbey and the University of London and spent much of his youth traveling extensively on the Continent, including time spent at the Museums in Paris and Leiden. Passing all the exams for a solicitor except for criminal law, he worked diligently at his profession from 1868 to 1878 but eventually turned to natural history and writing.
He wrote his first article for The Field on 13 March 1869 and remained on the staff for fifty years, becoming editor of the Naturalist Department in 1871 and later editor of the Shooting Department in addition to his other regular duties. By 1920 he had contributed 2,326 articles as well as 124 obituary notices to The Field, in addition to innumerable "Answers to Correspondents" which he wrote on Natural History, Falconry, Angling, the Country House, Shooting, Antiquarian, and Legal issues. His personal library was replete with books of reference and legal authorities. It was said there was nothing—either printed or manuscript—which he could not lay his hand on when needed.
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