“In fact, the fairies had turned him into a water-baby. A water-baby? You never heard of a water-baby. Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story was written. (...) "But there are no such things as water-babies." How do you know that? Have you been there to see? And if you had been there to see, and had seen none, that would not prove that there were none. If Mr. Garth does not find a fox in Eversley Wood—as folks sometimes fear he never will—that does not prove that there are no such things as foxes. And as is Eversley Wood to all the woods in England, so are the waters we know to all the waters in the world. And no one has a right to say that no water-babies exist, till they have seen no water-babies existing; which is quite a different thing, mind, from not seeing water-babies; and a thing which nobody ever did, or perhaps ever will do.”
As a young man, Kingsley was influenced by The Kingdom of Christ (1838) by Frederick Denison Maurice. Originally intended for the legal profession, he changed his mind and chose to pursue a ministry in the church.
In 1850 Kingsley novel Alton Locke was published. The book attempted to expose the social injustice suffered by agricultural labourers and workers in the clothing trade. In Alton Locke Kingsley also describes the Chartist campaign that he was involved with in the 1840s.
Kingsley's life was written by his widow in 1877, entitled Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life, and presents a very touching and beautiful picture of her husband, but perhaps hardly does justice to his humour, his wit, his overflowing vitality and boyish fun.
Charles Kingsley was born in Holne (Devon), the son of a vicar. His brother, Henry Kingsley, also became a novelist. He spent his childhood in Clovelly, Devon and was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before choosing to pursue a ministry in the church. From 1844, he was rector of Eversley in Hampshire, and in 1860, he was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge.
Kingsley's interest in history spilled over into his writings, which include The Heroes (1856), a children's book about Greek mythology, and several historical novels, of which the best known are Hypatia (1853), Hereward the Wake (1865), and Westward Ho! (1855).
In 1872 Kingsley accepted the Presidency of the Birmingham and Midland Institute and became its 19th President.
Kingsley died in 1875 and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in Eversley.