Denis George Mackail (3 June 1892 – 4 August 1971) was an English fiction writer. His work was popular in his time, but much of his work has been forgotten. However, ''Greenery Street'', a 1925 novel of early married life in upper middle-class London, was republished in 2002.https://persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/denis-mackail.

Biography

Mackail was born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London, on 3 June 1892, to

John William Mackail John William Mackail (26 August 1859 – 13 December 1945) was a Scottish academic of Oxford University and reformer of the British education system. He is most often remembered as a scholar of Virgil and as the official biographer of the so ...

and Margaret Burne-Jones, the daughter of the painter

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

. He was the younger brother of

Angela Thirkell Angela Margaret Thirkell (; , 30 January 1890 – 29 January 1961) was an English and Australian novelist. She also published one novel, ''Trooper to Southern Cross'', under the pseudonym Leslie Parker. Early life She was the elder daughter of ...

. Educated at St Paul's School,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, he went to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, but failed to complete his degree through ill-health after two years. His first work was as a stage-set designer, notably for

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

's ''The Adored One'' and

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's ''

Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...

'' (1914). The outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

interrupted a promising start in this. Mackail was not fit enough for active service, but took work in the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

. In 1917 he married Diana Granet, only child of Sir

Guy Granet Sir William Guy Granet, GBE (13 October 1867 – 11 October 1943) trained as a barrister but became a noted railway administrator, first as general manager of the Midland Railway then as a director-general in the War Office. Biography Guy Gra ...

, a War Office director-general for railways. The couple had two children, Mary (born 28 March 1919) and Anne (born 12 January 1922), and lived in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

. The need to support his young family led Mackail to write fiction at a time when office jobs became insecure after the end of the war. This led to a first short-story being accepted by the ''

Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' and to the services of a literary agent, A. P. Watt. Denis was soon earning enough from his writing to give up his office work. He published a novel a year from 1920 to 1938. Among his literary friends were

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeev ...

and

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

. During the 1930s Mackail lived at Bishopstone House, Bishopstone, East Sussex. After a nervous breakdown, Mackail, as therapy, set about writing the official biography of J. M. Barrie, which appeared in 1941. He went on to produce seven more novels and some books of reminiscences, but after the early death of his wife in 1949, he published nothing further and lived quietly in London until his death on 4 August 1971.

Relatives

Mackail's sister was the novelist

. Through his mother, he was a first cousin once removed of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

and

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

. He was also a second cousin of Oliver Baldwin.

Books by Denis Mackail

*''What Next?'' (1920) *''Romance to the Rescue'' (1921) *''Bill the Bachelor'' (1922) *''According to Gibson'' (1923) *''Summertime'' (1923) *''The Majestic Mystery'' (1924) *''Greenery Street'' (1925) (republished in 2002 by Persephone Books) *''The Fortunes of Hugo'' (1926) *''The Flower Show'' (1927) *''Tales from Greenery Street'' (1928) *''Another Part of the Wood'' (1929) *''How Amusing!'' (1929) *''The Young Livingstones'' (1930) *''The Square Circle'' (1930) *''David's Day'' (1932) *''Ian and Felicity'' S title: ''Peninsula Place''(1932) *''Having Fun'' (1933) *''Chelbury Abbey'' (1933) *''Summer Leaves'' (1934) *''The Wedding'' (1935) *''Back Again'' (1936) *''Jacinth'' (1937) *''London Lovers'' (1938) *''Morning, Noon and Night'' (1938) *''The Story of J. M. B.'' (US title: ''Barrie'', 1941) *''Life with Topsy'' (1942) *''Upside-down'' (1943) *''Ho!'' or, ''How It All Strikes Me'' (1944) *''Tales for a Godchild'' (1944) *''Huddlestone House'' (1945) *''Our Hero'' (1947) *''We're Here!'' (1947) *''Where am I?'' or ''A Stranger Here Myself'' (1948) *''By Auction'' (1949) *''Her Ladyship'' (1949) *''It Makes the World Go Round'' (1950)

References

*"Denis Mackail", ''Obituaries from The Times, 1971–1975'', Reading: Newspaper Archive Developments, 1978 *"Mackail, Denis George", ''Who Was Who'', vol. 7: 1971–1980, London: Black, c. 1982 *Denis Mackail, ''Life with Topsy'', London: Heinemann, 1942 *Bishopstone & Seaford by Pople & Berry: Sutton Press, 1991

External links

* *
2026"
– article predicting the year 2026, from the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'', 19 December 1926 edition {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackail, Denis 1892 births 1971 deaths English people of Scottish descent 20th-century English writers English biographers People from Kensington Writers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Burne-Jones family

Biography

Relatives

Books by Denis Mackail

See also

References

External links