Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman (' Watson; 25 February 1862 – 13 October 1946) was a Scottish

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. She is best known for her first book, '' Little Black Sambo'' (1899).

Life

Bannerman was born at 35 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh. She was the eldest daughter and fourth child of seven children of Robert Boog Watson (1823–1910), minister of the Free Church of Scotland and

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

, and his wife Janet (1831–1912), daughter of Helen Brodie and the papermaker and philanthropist Alexander Cowan. Between the ages of 2 and 12, she lived in

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, 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 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and f ...

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

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

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

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

on the southeastern seacoast, populated mostly by the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

ethnic group. During their 30 years in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, they had four children: daughters Janet (b. 1893) and Day (b. 1896), and sons James "Pat" Patrick (b. 1900) and Robert (b. 1902). Bannerman and her husband returned to Edinburgh in 1918; he died in 1924. She died at home on 13 October 1946, of cerebral thrombosis and a fractured femur; her body was cremated. She is buried with her husband in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh. Bannerman was the grandmother of the physicist Tom Kibble, who discovered the Higgs–Kibble mechanism 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 excited state, quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the field (physics), fields in particl ...

Works

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

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

s, and a

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

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

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

, a mugger crocodile, a

dhobi Dhobi known in some places as Dhoba, Rajaka, a Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, scheduled caste in India and the greater Indian subcontinent whose traditional occupations are Clothes washing, washing, ironing, and Farmworker, agricultur ...

, and a

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

, ''Little Black Quasha'' has a

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 originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

es and

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

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 19th-century Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish women writers Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scottish children's writers Writers from Edinburgh

Life

Works

See also

References

External links