Mary Treadgold (16 April 1910 – 14 May 2005) was an English author of books for children and adults, a literary editor and a

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Life and writing

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

before going on to Bedford College, London from 1930 to 1936, where she graduated with an MA in English Literature. After leaving university, Treadgold entered publishing, working first for

Raphael Tuck & Sons Raphael Tuck & Sons was a business started by Raphael Tuck and his wife in Bishopsgate in the City of London in October 1866,Picture Postcards and Their Publishers, by Anthony Byatt, page 288 selling pictures and greeting cards, and eventually se ...

and later at Heinemann's as their first children's editor. In her position Treadgold frequently read stories about ponies and pony clubs. She was generally dismayed by their quality and decided to resign in order to write her own pony story. She began '' We Couldn't Leave Dinah'' while confined to an

air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

between September and December 1940. At the end of 1940 she moved to work at the BBC as a literary editor and producer in various sections of the General Overseas Service, sharing an office with

Eric Blair Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...

(

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

) and forming a strong friendship with

Una Marson Una Maud Victoria Marson (6 February 1905 – 6 May 1965) was a Jamaican feminist, activist and writer, producing poems, plays and radio programmes. She travelled to London in 1932 and became the first black woman to be employed by the BBC d ...

, the Jamaican writer, editor and feminist. Of the twenty years she spent at the BBC, eleven were as literary editor of ''Books to Read'', before she eventually left to concentrate on her writing. ''We Couldn't Leave Dinah'' is the story of the Templeton children and their friends who live on a fictional island in the English Channel and who are faced with leaving their ponies behind during their evacuation and the island's subsequent German occupation. It drew on Treadgold's childhood experiences of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. The book was published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

in 1941 and Treadgold won the annual Carnegie Medal from the

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, recognising the year's best children's book by a

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. It was published in America in 1942 as ''Left Till Called For''. It is now out of print. ''No Ponies'' (1946) is set in post-war France, while ''The Polly Harris'' (1948) is the sequel to ''We Couldn't Leave Dinah'' and is set in post-war London, where the Templeton children become involved in terrorist bombings and smuggling. ''The Winter Princess'' (1962) concerns the visit of a young African princess to a

grace and favour ''Grace & Favour'' (American title: ''Are You Being Served? Again!'') is a British sitcom and a spin-off of ''Are You Being Served?'' that aired on BBC1 for two series from 1992 to 1993. It was written by ''Are You Being Served?'' creators and ...

apartment at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...

where she meets four English children.

Marcus Crouch Marcus Crouch (12 February 1913 – 24 April 1996) was an English librarian, and an influential commentator on and reviewer of children's books.Sheila Ray. "Obituary: Marcus Crouch", ''Children's Literature Abstracts'', Issues 92-95, Internation ...

described it as "perhaps the most delightful book by a most talented writer" and as making "an effective contribution to the race question because there is no mention of it." Treadgold wrote a trilogy based on a house called The Heron: ''The Heron Ride'', ''Return to the Heron'' and ''Journey from the Heron''. The first two volumes were written in the early 1960s, the last in the series was completed in 1981. Treadgold lived in London for most of her life. She died of cancer on 14 May 2005 at St Teresa's Nursing Home 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 ...

, aged 95. She never married.

Selected works

*'' We Couldn't Leave Dinah'' (1941), illustrated by Elisabeth Grant *''No Ponies'' (1946) *''The Polly Harris'' (1949); in the US also as ''The Mystery of the Polly Harris'' *''The Running Child'' (1951) *"The Telephone", ''The Third Ghost Book'', ed. Lady Cynthia Asquith (James Barrie, 1955) *''The Winter Princess'' (1962) *''The Heron Ride'' (1962) *''Return to the Heron'' (1963) *''The Weather Boy'' (1964) *''Maid's Ribbons'' (1965) *''Elegant Patty'' (1967) *''The Humbugs'' (1968) *''Poor Patty'' (1968) *''This Summer, Last Summer'' (1968) *''The Rum Day of the Vanishing Pony'' (1970) *''Journey from the Heron'' (1981)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Treadgold, Mary 20th-century British novelists British children's writers Pony books Carnegie Medal in Literature winners 1910 births 2005 deaths People from Muswell Hill British ghost story writers Alumni of Bedford College, London

Life and writing

Selected works

References

Further reading

External links