About the Author

Sir James Percy FitzPatrick, KCMG (24 July 1862 - 24 January 1931), or simply Percy FitzPatrick, authored the classic children's book, Jock of the Bushveld in 1907. After his father died FitzPatrick left school to support his family. He arrived in South Africa's Eastern Transvaal goldfields in 1884, where he worked as an ox-wagon transport-rider from Lourenço Marques (Maputo) to Lydenburg and Barberton. Fitzpatrick turned his adventures into bedtime stories for his children. Rudyard Kipling, a good friend of Fitzpatrick, who also took part in these story-telling evenings persuaded him to publish them. The result was Jock of the Bushveld which was first published in 1907 and has since achieved the status of a South African classic. FitzPatrtick gave his collection of wild animal gathered during hunting trips to form the first stock of the Johannesburg Zoo.