Henderson in The War of the Worlds

Who is Henderson?

Henderson is a London newspaperman who appears early in the crisis when Ogilvy runs into Woking to fetch help for the scorched cylinder on Horsell Common. He accompanies Ogilvy back to the pit and is one of the deputation figures who try to approach and communicate with the strangers. Henderson works alongside local gentlemen and scientific authorities as reporters, helping to organize attention around the object and to relay the developing story. He remains on the scene as the cylinder proves dangerous: he is present during the deputation that is struck by the Martian weapon and features in the circulation of news by telegraph and dispatch back to London. Henderson’s role is practical and journalistic—he asks questions, seeks to get the facts out, and helps signal the event’s importance to the metropolitan press, even though early dispatches are dismissed. He is part of the crowd, the press presence, and the brief organized response that face the Martian arrival.

In the book: Henderson is a quick-on-the-scene London journalist who rushes down to Woking when the mysterious cylinder lands. He’s the kind of reporter who peppers everyone with questions and tries to get the news out fast, signaling to the reader that this is a story big enough to draw the city press.

Personality

curious

He accompanies Ogilvy back to the common and inspects the cylinder with the deputation, seeking information about its contents.

prompt

Ogilvy persuades Henderson, described as a London journalist, to go immediately with him to the heath at dawn after the cylinder is found.

practical

He helps form and take part in the deputation that approaches the cylinder to try to communicate and to supervise excavation efforts.

professional

Henderson sends a telegram describing the unscrewing of the cylinder, attempting to get news to London even when it is not published.

Character arc

Henderson’s role remains steady rather than transformative: he appears as the operative journalist called to witness and report when Ogilvy first raises the alarm, then he continues as a hands-on presence among the deputation and the crowd. From his first appearance he acts to gather and transmit information—going out to the pit, supervising efforts to open the cylinder, and relaying details by telegram. As events escalate into violence, Henderson moves from the investigator’s place at the edge of curiosity into the immediate danger of the deputation that is struck by the Martian weapon, showing how professional duties draw him into peril. He does not undergo a dramatic inner change in the provided chapters; instead, his consistency underscores the persistent function of the press in a crisis: to observe, to question, and to try (often unsuccessfully) to make metropolitan authorities and the public take notice. By the later scenes included in the notes, he remains part of the reportage network whose early messages are either ignored or overwhelmed by the scale of the catastrophe.

Relationships

• Ogilvy Colleague and companion who fetches Henderson from Woking and brings him to the cylinder site.
• Stent Works alongside Stent during the excavation and deputation, cooperating with the scientific authority at the pit.
• The Narrator Figures in the same scene the narrator investigates; Henderson’s presence helps draw press attention that the narrator later follows.
• The Martians Subjects of his reporting and the unseen antagonists whose weapon strikes the deputation Henderson joins.

Why Henderson matters

Henderson embodies the role of the metropolitan press in the novel’s opening crises: a practical, inquisitive agent who tries to translate an extraordinary local event into news for a wider public. His promptness and telegrams demonstrate how information networks respond to disaster, and how those networks can be both vital and inadequate—early dispatches are dismissed even as catastrophe unfolds. Through Henderson, Wells shows the limits of ordinary institutions (including the press) when faced with incomprehensible, technological violence, and he underscores the theme that modern communication and professional routines are tested and often overwhelmed by the Martian invasion.

Chapters with Henderson

• II. THE FALLING STAR.
• III. ON HORSELL COMMON.
• V. THE HEAT-RAY.
• VI. THE HEAT-RAY IN THE CHOBHAM ROAD.
• VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT.
• IX
• XVII

More The War of the Worlds characters

• The NarratorNarrator
• The MartiansAntagonist
• The Narrator's WifeMajor character
• OgilvyMajor character
• The CurateMajor character
• The ArtillerymanMajor character
• StentMajor character
• The Narrator's BrotherMajor character