In my January column, I mentioned that one of the most important historic anniversaries for Gloucester in 2025 was the 150th anniversary of William E Henley writing the poem ‘Invictus’.

‘Invictus’ is famous principally because Nelson Mandela read it each day during his 27 years in captivity and it was thereafter the name of a 2009 film, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, about South Africa winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

It is less well-known that parts of the poem have been quoted by Winston Churchill and Barack Obama. Invictus also gives its name to a yacht manufacturer, an aftershave, a flooring company and, of course, Prince Harry’s ‘Invictus Games’ for injured forces personnel.

William Henley was born in Eastgate Street, where the Card Factory shop is now – look for the blue plaque the next time you are walking past. He attended The Crypt School and one of the school’s house names is Henley to this day. Henley Place (off The Oval) and Henley Court (near Gloucester Park) are presumably named after him, but most people – including those that live there – are probably not aware of the connection.

Henley wrote the poem from his hospital bed

Henley suffered from tuberculosis and ‘Invictus’ describes his battle as he dealt with the disease – he wrote the poem from his hospital bed. TB caused him to lose his leg, which led to him being the inspiration for Long John Silver in Treasure Island, written by his friend Robert Louis Stevenson.

Another of Henley’s literary friends was J. M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan. Henley’s daughter Margaret, who died at the age of five, couldn’t speak clearly and described Barrie as her ‘fwendy-wendy’ – leading to a character in Peter Pan being called Wendy.

A special 150th anniversary copy of ‘Invictus’ is for sale in St Mary de Crypt in Southgate Street, where The Crypt School was founded.