Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman (' Watson; 25 February 1862 – 13 October 1946) was a Scottish author of children's books. She is best known for her first book, ''

Little Black Sambo ''The Story of Little Black Sambo'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman and published by Grant Richards in October 1899. As one in a series of small-format books called The Dumpy Books for Children ...

'' (1899).

Life

Bannerman was born at 35

Royal Terrace, Edinburgh Royal Terrace is a grand street in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the north side of Calton Hill within the New Town and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1995, built on the south side of a setted street, facing the sloping ...

. She was the eldest daughter and fourth child of seven children of

Robert Boog Watson Robert Boog Watson FRSE (26 September 1823 – 23 June 1910) was a Scottish malacologist and minister of the Free Church of Scotland best known as the author of the report on the Scaphopoda and Gastropoda collected during the H.M.S. ''Challe ...

(1823–1910), minister of the Free Church of Scotland and

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

, and his wife Janet (1831–1912), daughter of Helen Brodie and the papermaker and philanthropist

Alexander Cowan Alexander Cowan (17 June 1775 – 13 February 1859) was a Scottish papermaker and philanthropist. He was a cousin and friend of Thomas Chalmers, the prominent Scottish minister. Through his business he was a friend and associate of the publisher ...

. Between the ages of 2 and 12, she lived in

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, where her father was minister at the Scottish church. When the family returned, they spent much time with their maternal aunt, Mrs Cowan, at 35 Royal Terrace on

Calton Hill Calton Hill () is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the cit ...

. Because women were not admitted into Scottish universities, she sat external examinations set by the University of St. Andrews, attaining the qualification of Lady Literate in Arts (LLA) in 1887. She then married Dr

William Burney Bannerman Major General William Burney Bannerman CSI FRSE (6 July 1858 – 3 February 1924) was a 19th and 20th century high-ranking Scottish military surgeon who worked in the Indian Medical Service. As director of the plague research laboratory, he cond ...

, a physician and an officer in the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

(IMS). The couple then moved to India in 1889, taking up residence in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(modern-day Chennai), capital of the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

on the southeastern seacoast, populated mostly by the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

ethnic group. During their 30 years in India, they had four children: daughters Janet (b. 1893) and Day (b. 1896), and sons James "Pat" Patrick (b.1900) and Robert (b. 1902). She died in Edinburgh in 1946 of cerebral thrombosis. She is buried with her husband in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh. She was the grandmother of the physicist

Tom Kibble Sir Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble (; 23 December 1932 – 2 June 2016) was a British theoretical physicist, senior research investigator at the Blackett Laboratory and Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London. His ...

, who discovered the

Higgs–Kibble mechanism In the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is essential to explain the generation mechanism of the property " mass" for gauge bosons. Without the Higgs mechanism, all bosons (one of the two classes of particles, the other b ...

and the

Higgs boson The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Stan ...

Works

The illustrations and settings of Bannerman's books are all about Indians and their culture. ''

'' has

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living Felidae, cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily pr ...

s, and a

bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in t ...

, ''The Story of Little Black Mingo'' has

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

, a mugger (a kind of crocodile), a

dhobi Dhobi known in some places as Dhoba or Rajaka, Madivala is a group of community in India and the greater Indian subcontinent whose traditional occupations are washing and ironing, Cultivator, agricultural workers. They are a large community, ...

, and a

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

, ''Little Black Quasha'' has a bazaar and tigers, and ''The Story of Little Black Quibba'' has

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

es and

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

s. * '' The Story of Little Black Sambo'', 1899 * ''Story of Little Black Mingo'', 1901 * ''The Story of Little Black Quibba'', 1902Helen Bannerman (1902
''The Story of Little Black Quibba''
/ref> * ''Little Degchie-Head: An Awful Warning to Bad Babas'', 1903 * ''Little Kettle-Head'', 1904 * ''Pat and the Spider'', 1905 * ''The Story of the Teasing Monkey'', 1907 * ''Little Black Quasha'', 1908 * ''Story of Little Black Bobtail'', 1909 * ''Sambo and the Twins'', 1936 * ''The Story of Little White Squibba'', 1966 Finished by her daughter

References

External links

* * *
Helen Bannerman biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannerman, Helen 1862 births 1946 deaths writers from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scottish children's writers

Life

Works

See also

References

External links