Edward Keble Chatterton (10 September 1878 – 31 December 1944) was a prolific writer who published around a hundred books, pamphlets and magazine series, mainly on maritime and naval themes.

Biography

Born at number 76, Rock Street,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, he attended

Sheffield Royal Grammar School Sheffield Grammar School began in 1604 as "The Free Grammar School of James King of England within the Town of Sheffield in the County of York" in buildings in the Townhead area of Sheffield, resulting from the benefaction of John Smith of Crowl ...

followed by St Paul's School, then located in Hammersmith, London. He took a B.A. at St. Stephen's House, Oxford, before beginning to write theatre and art reviews for various magazines. In 1905, he edited ''The Lady's Realm'' for a number of issues. He undertook a number of small-boat voyages through the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

; out of these voyages came magazine articles and books describing the passages as well as several books on the maritime art collections of the Low Countries. At 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 ...

, Chatterton joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V.R.), ultimately commanding a

Motor Launch A Motor Launch (ML) is a small military vessel in Royal Navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high-speed air-sea rescue. Some vessels for water police service are also known as motor launches. ...

flotilla at Queenstown, now Cobh, in Ireland. He describes these years in ''Q-Ships and their Story'' (1922), ''The Auxiliary Patrol'' (1924) and ''Danger Zone: The Story of the Queenstown Command'' (1934). He left the service in 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In the inter-war years, his output was continuous, and included a series of monographs on model ships, many narrative histories of naval events, and a number of juvenile novels. Most of his books were republished in the United States and several were translated into French and German editions. A member of the

Royal Thames Yacht Club The Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC) is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world, and the oldest yacht club in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are located at 60 Knightsbridge, London, England, overlooking Hyde Park. The club ...

for many years, he carried out a multi-season voyage to the Mediterranean through the French canals. He described these in a further series of books: his journeys on the

Canal de Nantes à Brest Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow und ...

are outlined in ''Through Brittany in "Charmina": From Torbay to the Bay of Biscay in a 6-Tonner'' (1933), journeys on the Canal du Midi are described in ''To the Mediterranean in "Charmina"'' (1934), and journeys along the French Riviera are described in ''"Charmina" on the Riviera'' (1937). After 1939, his writings focused on the conflict with Germany. Hutchinsons published a series documenting the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

at war, which was completed by Kenneth Edwards following Chatterton's death in 1944.

Published works

''Sailing Ships''
London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1909. * ''Down the Channel in the "Vivette"''. London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1910. * at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* ''King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855''. London : George Allen & Company, Ltd., 1912. * ''Through Holland in the Vivette''. London : Seeley, Service & Co., 1913.
''Ships and Ways of Other Days''
London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1913. * ''Ventures and voyages''. London : Rich & Cowan, 1928. * ''Through Brittany in "Charmina"''. London : Rich & Cowan, 1933. * ''Sailing models ancient & modern''. London : Hurst & Blackett Ltd, 1934. * ''Ship Models''. London : Studio Ltd, 1923. * ''The story of the British Navy'' mills and boon, 1911

Notes

External links

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at Bruzelius.info * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterton, Edward Keble 1878 births 1944 deaths Royal Navy officers of World War I Writers from Sheffield British military writers People educated at St Paul's School, London People educated at Sheffield Grammar School