The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne

"The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne" by William Makepeace Thackeray tells the story of the early life of Henry Esmond, a colonel in the service of Queen Anne of England. He relates his own history in memoir fashion, mainly in the third person but occasionally dropping into the first person. Henry, born about 1678, is an orphan and lives near London in the care of French Huguenot refugees. When Henry is ten years old, Thomas Esmond, third Viscount Castlewood, removes him from his caretakers and takes him to Castlewood where he lives out his childhood before embarking on his adult adventures.