Laurence Walter Meynell (9 August 1899 – 14 April 1989) was the English author of over 150 books, who wrote also as Valerie Baxter, Robert Eton, Geoffrey Ludlow and A. Stephen Tring.

Life

Meynell was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, the youngest son of Herbert Meynell, chairman of a brass-founding firm, and his wife Agnes Mary Sollom. He was sent to the oldest Catholic boarding school in the country, St Edmund's College, Ware, and then served in the artillery in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He worked for a time as an estate agent and as a schoolmaster before becoming a professional writer in the 1920s. A contemporary satire, ''Mockbeggar'' (1924), won him the Harrap Fiction Prize. Meynell wrote juvenile literature as Valerie Baxter and A. Stephen Tring. His story for boys, ''The Old Gang'', was particularly well received. He also wrote

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

, with a recurring private-eye character, Hooky Hefferman. Meynell was twice married, his second wife was the actress Joan Henley from 1956 until her death in 1986. He had one daughter, Ann Meynell b London 1938 by his first wife, Shirley Ruth Darbyshire (1903–1955). He died on 14 April 1989 in

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meynell, Laurence Walter 1899 births 1989 deaths writers from Wolverhampton 20th-century English novelists People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware Royal Artillery soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Wolverhampton