Jessie Mabel Pritchard Dearmer (née White; 22 March 1872 – 15 July 1915) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and children's book author/illustrator. She was a committed

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

who died while caring for the war wounded in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Early life

Born Jessie Mabel Pritchard White, the daughter of surgeon-major William White and Selina Taylor Pritchard, she was educated in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and was trained by W. G. Wills. She entered

Hubert von Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...

's art school in 1891, but left the following year to marry the socialist liturgist priest

Percy Dearmer Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...

Writing career

In 1896 she began contributing illustrations to ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...

'', '' The Savoy'' and '' The Studio''. She notable created the cover for the Yellow Book's issue number nine. She soon after turned to children's book illustration. Dearmer created artwork for ''Wymps, and Other Fairy Tales'' and ''All the Way to Fairyland'' by Evelyn Sharp and ''The Story of the Seven Young Goslings'' by

Laurence Housman Laurence Housman (; 18 July 1865 – 20 February 1959) was an English playwright, writer and illustrator whose career stretched from the 1890s to the 1950s. He studied art in London. He was a younger brother of the poet A. E. Housman and his s ...

(1899). She also illustrated several self-written titles, ''Round-about Rhymes'' (1898), ''The Book of Penny Toys'' (1899), and ''The Noah’s Ark Geography'' (1900). From 1902 Dearmer began writing for adults, beginning with ''The Noisy Years'' and its 1906 sequel ''Brownjohn’s''. Her autobiography ''The Difficult Way'' was published in 1905, and other titles include a historical romance ''The Orangery: A Comedy of Tears'' (1904), ''The Alien Sisters'' (1908), and ''Gervase'' 1909. A keen dramatist, in 1911 she founded the Morality Play Society, which performed productions of her plays ''The Soul of the World'' and ''The Dreamer''. Though a committed pacifist, Dearmer accompanied her husband when he volunteered as a chaplain to the British

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. Joining the Third Serbian Relief Unit as a nursing orderly she left for Serbia in April 1915, but contracted enteric fever (typhoid) in June, and died of pneumonia on 15 July. Her letters were posthumously published as ''Letters from a field hospital. With a memoir of the author by Stephen Gwynn.'' Three months after her death, her younger son Christopher died in the Gallipoli Campaign. His elder brother

Geoffrey Dearmer Geoffrey Dearmer (21 March 1893 – 18 August 1996) was a British poet. He was the son of Anglican liturgist and hymnologist Percy Dearmer and the artist and writer Mabel Dearmer. School and university life Stephen Gwynn, a writer closely asso ...

survived to the age of 103.

Works

Round-about Rhymes Written and pictured by Mrs

*''Roundabout Rhymes'' (1898) *''The Book of Penny Toys'' (1899) *''Noah's Ark Geography'' (1900), also known as ''The Cockyolly Bird'' and ''A Noah’s Ark Geography. A True Account of the Travels and Adventures of Kit, Jum-Jum and the Cockyolly Bird, faithfully set forth and pictured by Mabel Dearmer''. *''The Noisy Years'' (1903) * *''The Difficult Way'' (1905) *''Brownjohn's'' (1906) *''A Child's Life of Christ'' (1907) *''The Alien Sisters'' (1908) * *''Gervase'' (1909) *''Nan Pilgrim'' (1909) *''The Soul of the World: A Mystery Play'' (1911) *''The Dreamer: A Poetic Drama'' (1912) *''The Cockyolly Bird'' (1913: produced in London, with music and dance) * with

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV (TV network), ITV crime-action television drama series ''The Professionals (TV series), The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable ...

*''The Cockyolly Bird: A Book of the Play'' (1914)

References

External links

Mabel Dearmer
by Richard Mammana *
Article on Mabel Dearmer
from 'The Yellow Nineties Online'

blog entry from the British Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Dearmer, Mabel 1872 births 1915 deaths 19th-century illustrators of fairy tales 20th-century British women writers 20th-century English novelists British illustrators British women illustrators British women children's writers British children's book illustrators British women in World War I English children's writers English socialists