Sir John Alexander Hammerton (27 February 1871, in
Alexandria, Scotland
Alexandria ( sco, The Vale, gd, Alexandria) is a town in – 12 May 1949, in London) is described by the ''
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' as "the most successful creator of large-scale works of reference that Britain has known".
Collaboration with Arthur Mee
Hammerton's first posts in journalism included a period in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, where he first met his lifelong collaborator and friend,
Arthur Mee
Arthur Henry Mee (21 July 187527 May 1943) was an English writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for ''The Harmsworth Self-Educator'', '' The Children's Encyclopædia'', ''The Children's Newspaper'', and ''The King's England''. The ...
Amalgamated Press
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...
. He and Mee produced the ''Harmsworth Self-Educator''.
Work on encyclopedias
Hammerton contributed to the first edition of Mee's '' Children's Encyclopædia'', which was a fortnightly series from 1908 till 1910 before being published in eight large volumes. Hammerton's contribution consisted of compiling articles on 'Famous Books' and 'Poetry'.
Hammerton's greatest achievement was '' Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopædia''. It was published first as a fortnightly series from 1920 to 1922. The
Encyclopaedia
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
sold 12 million copies throughout the English-speaking world.
Works about the First World War
The Great War
From 1914 to 1919, Hammerton was joint editor with Herbert Wrigley Wilson of the periodical ''The Great War: The Standard History of the All-Europe Conflict'', published by the Amalgamated Press.
The first volume of ''The Great War'' concentrated on justifying Britain's entry into
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, and with encouraging the British people to sign up and fight. In its entirety, ''The Great War'' ran to 13 volumes.
Popular History
In 1933, Hammerton's ''A Popular History of the Great War'' (in six volumes) was published. In his introduction to volume 1, Hammerton discusses the previous World War I series: 'Although it remains a storehouse of information for future students of the period, "The Great War", as that set of thirteen massive volumes was called, would now require to be largely re-written in light of later knowledge'.
Hammerton described ''Popular History'' as "embodying the gist of post-war revelations and official documents".
*Volume 1: ''The First Phase: 1914''
*Volume 2: ''Extension of the Struggle: 1915''
*Volume 3: ''The Allies at Bay: 1916''
*Volume 4: ''A Year of Attrition: 1917''
*Volume 5: ''The Year of Victory: 1918''
*Volume 6: ''The Armistice and After''
''Popular History'' contains 3,840 pages of text, 100 maps and diagrams, and 800 photographs.
Other works
In the Second World War, Hammerton edited "The Second Great War - A Standard History" (with Maj.-Gen. Sir
Charles Gwynn
Major General Sir Charles William Gwynn, KCB, CMG, DSO, FRGS (4 February 1870 – 12 February 1963) was an Irish born British Army officer, geographer, explorer and author of works on military history and theory.
Birth and education
Charles ...
acting a Military Editor). It was originally published in 104 parts, first fortnightly and then monthly for over five years, reverting to fortnightly in the last year of production. The collected editions were published in 9 volumes in 1947.
Hammerton later edited a biography of
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...
and studies of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
and
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
. He also wrote ''Other Things than War: Musings and Memories'' (1943), and an autobiography, ''Books and Myself'' (1944). He edited ''Punch Library of Humour,'' a book series of volumes of selected Punch Magazine sketches, described as "cream of our national humour, contributed by the masters of the comic draughtsmanship and leading wits of the age to 'Punch'".
Mee died in 1943. In 1946, Hammerton wrote a biography of him entitled ''Child of Wonder''.
The War Illustrated
''The War Illustrated'' was a British war magazine published in London by William Berry (later Viscount Camrose and owner of ''The Daily Telegraph''). It was first released on 22 August 1914, eighteen days after the United Kingdom declared war o ...
Michael Tracy
TRACY 168 (born Michael Tracy in 1958) is an American graffiti artist. He pioneered the art form known as Wildstyle. Tracy 168 came to be known as one of the most influential graffiti and street artists of all time, as variations of Wild Style writ ...