HELPS, SIR ARTHUR (1813-1875), English writer and clerk of the privy council, son of a London merchant, was edu cated at Eton and at Trinity college, Cambridge. In 186o he was appointed clerk of the privy council, on the recommendation of Lord Granville.
His appointment as clerk of the council brought him into per sonal communication with Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, both of whom came to regard him with confidence and respect. After the prince's death, the queen asked Helps to prepare the appreciation of her husband's life and character contained in his introduction to the collection (1862) of the Prince Consort's speeches and addresses. He edited and wrote a preface to the Queen's Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the Highlands (1868). He died on March 7, Helps's other works include Friends in Council, a Series of Readings and Discourse thereon ; The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen (2 vols., 1848-52) ; and The Spanish Conquest in America, and its Relation to the History of Slavery and the Government of Colonies (4 vols., 1855-57-61).