Charles Benjamin Purdom (15 October 1883 – 8 July 1965) was a British author, drama critic,

town planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

, and economist. He was one of the pioneers and founders of the first garden cities, Letchworth and

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, the latter of which he was appointed Finance Director between 1919–1928. He was then made Honorary Secretary, then Treasurer of the International Federation for Housing and Planning (1931–1935). He was also founder of the Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City Theatre Society, now the Welwyn Drama Club. He won the Howard Walden cup at the Welwyn Garden City Drama Festival and the David Belasco cup in New-York in 1927. He was an author of many books on city development, on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and Bernard Shaw plays,

Harley Granville-Barker Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...

, and on producing plays. He was editor of an English literary periodical called ''

Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

'', covering books, drama, music and travel and featured articles by renowned authors such as

Ivor Brown Ivor John Carnegie Brown CBE (25 April 1891 – 22 April 1974) was a British journalist and man of letters. Biography Born in Penang, Malaya, Brown was the younger of two sons of Dr. William Carnegie Brown, a specialist in tropical diseases, ...

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, G. K. Chesterton,

A. E. Coppard Alfred Edgar Coppard (4 January 187813 January 1957) was an English author, noted for his poetry and short stories. Life Coppard was born the son of a tailor and a housemaid in Folkestone, and had little formal education. Coppard grew up i ...

, and

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. He was General Secretary of British Equity (1939–1940) and joint secretary of the London Theatre Council. He was also the earliest biographer of

Meher Baba Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A major spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following of ...

. He was father of the actor Edmund Purdom. He died in

in 1965.

First biographer of Meher Baba

Purdom was a devoted follower of the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

silent teacher

after meeting him in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England on Baba's first visit to the West in 1931.''The Awakener Magazine'', Fall 1955, Vol. III, No. 2 Purdom was Meher Baba's original biographer, writing ''The Perfect Master: The Early Life of Meher Baba'' in 1937, which covers Meher Baba's life from 1911–1936, and ''The God Man: The Life, Journeys & Work of Meher Baba with an Interpretation of His Silence & Spiritual Teaching'' in 1964. He also wrote an early single-volume edition of Meher Baba's discourses titled ''God to Man and Man to God: The Discourses of Meher Baba'' (1955) and with author Malcolm Schloss co-wrote a detailed account of a group visit with Meher Baba in India titled ''Three Incredible Weeks with Meher Baba''.

Selected publications

* ''The Garden City: A Study of the Development of a Modern Town'', J.M. Dent & Sons, London, 1913 * ''The Building of Satellite Towns: A Contribution to the Study of Town Development and Regional Planning'', J.M. Dent & Sons, London, 1925 * ''The Swan Shakespeare; a Player's Edition – 3 Volumes '', J.M. Dent & Sons, London, 1930 * ''Producing Plays: a handbook for producers & players'', J.M. Dent, London 1930 * ''Everyman at War. Sixty Personal Narratives of the War'', (Selected from ''Everyman Magazine''), Dutton, New York, 1930 and J.M. Dent, London, 1939 * ''The Perfect Master: The Life of Shri Meher Baba'', (Meher Baba's life from 1911–1936), Williams & Norgate Ltd, London, 1937. Reprinted as ''Perfect Master, The Early Life of Meher Baba'', by Sheriar Press USA in 1976 * ''The New Order'', J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd, 1941 * ''How Shall We Rebuild London?'', J.M. Dent, London, 1946 * ''Economic Wellbeing'', Nicholson and Watson, 1947 * ''Producing Shakespeare'', Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London, 1950 * ''Life Over Again'' (Autobiography), J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, 1951 * ''Drama Festivals and Their Adjudication; a Handbook for Producers, Actors, Festival Organisers, and Adjudicators'', J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., London, 1951 * ''Harley Granville Barker: Man of the Theatre, Dramatist, and Scholar'', Salisbury Square, 1955 * ''God to Man and Man to God: The Discourses of Meher Baba'', Victor Gollancz Ltd., London, 1955 * ''Bernard Shaw's Letters to Granville Barker'', Phoenix House, London, 1956 * ''A Guide to the Plays of Bernard Shaw'', Methuen & Co. Ltd, London, 1963 * ''The Letchworth Achievement'', J.M. Dent & Sons, 1963 * ''What Happens in Shakespeare: a New Interpretation'', John Baker Publ., London, 1963 * ''The God-Man: The Life, Journeys & Work of Meher Baba with an Interpretation of His Silence & Spiritual Teaching'', George Allen & Unwin, London, 1964 * ''Three Incredible Weeks with Meher Baba: 11–30 September 1954'', Sheriar Press, Myrtle Beach, 1979

References

External links

Charles Purdom at meherbabatravels.com

''Divine Drama, the Valiant Life of Charles B. Purdom''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Purdom, Charles 1883 births 1965 deaths British theatre critics English biographers English economists Followers of Meher Baba General Secretaries of Equity (trade union)