Jessie Mabel Pritchard Dearmer (née White; 22 March 1872 – 15 July 1915) was an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

, dramatist and children's book author/illustrator. She was a committed pacifist who died while caring for the war wounded in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

Early life

Born Jessie Mabel Pritchard White, the daughter of surgeon-major William White and Selina Taylor Pritchard, she was educated in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and was trained by

W. G. Wills William Gorman Wills (28 January 182813 December 1891), usually known as W. G. Wills, was an Irish dramatist, novelist and painter. Early life and career Wills was born at Blackwell lodge in the neighbourhood of Kilmurry, County Kilkenny, Ire ...

. She entered Hubert von Herkomer's art school in 1891, but left the following year to marry the socialist liturgist priest

Percy Dearmer Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...

Writing career

In 1896 she began contributing illustrations to ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by the ...

'', '' The Savoy'' and '' The Studio''. She notable created the cover for the Yellow Book's issue number nine. She soon after turned to children's book illustration. Dearmer created artwork for ''Wymps, and Other Fairy Tales'' and ''All the Way to Fairyland'' by

Evelyn Sharp Evelyn Sharp may refer to: *Evelyn Sharp (aviator) (1919–1944), American aviator * Evelyn Sharp (businesswoman) (died 1997), American hotelier * Evelyn Sharp (suffragist) (1869–1955), British suffragist and author *Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp ...

and ''The Story of the Seven Young Goslings'' by Laurence Housman (1899). She also illustrated several self-written titles, ''Round-about Rhymes'' (1898), ''The Book of Penny Toys'' (1899), and ''The Noah’s Ark Geography'' (1900). From 1902 Dearmer began writing for adults, beginning with ''The Noisy Years'' and its 1906 sequel ''Brownjohn’s''. Her autobiography ''The Difficult Way'' was published in 1905, and other titles include a historical romance ''The Orangery: A Comedy of Tears'' (1904), ''The Alien Sisters'' (1908), and ''Gervase'' 1909. A keen dramatist, in 1911 she founded the Morality Play Society, which performed productions of her plays ''The Soul of the World'' and ''The Dreamer''. Though a committed pacifist, Dearmer accompanied her husband when he volunteered as a chaplain to the British

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. Joining the Third Serbian Relief Unit as a nursing orderly she left for Serbia in April 1915, but contracted enteric fever (typhoid) in June, and died of pneumonia on 15 July. Her letters were posthumously published as ''Letters from a field hospital. With a memoir of the author by Stephen Gwynn.'' Three months after her death, her younger son Christopher died in the Gallipoli Campaign. His elder brother Geoffrey Dearmer survived to the age of 103.

Works

Round-about Rhymes Written and pictured by Mrs

*''Roundabout Rhymes'' (1898) *''The Book of Penny Toys'' (1899) *''Noah's Ark Geography'' (1900), also known as ''The Cockyolly Bird'' and ''A Noah’s Ark Geography. A True Account of the Travels and Adventures of Kit, Jum-Jum and the Cockyolly Bird, faithfully set forth and pictured by Mabel Dearmer''. *''The Noisy Years'' (1903) * *''The Difficult Way'' (1905) *''Brownjohn's'' (1906) *''A Child's Life of Christ'' (1907) *''The Alien Sisters'' (1908) * *''Gervase'' (1909) *''Nan Pilgrim'' (1909) *''The Soul of the World: A Mystery Play'' (1911) *''The Dreamer: A Poetic Drama'' (1912) *''The Cockyolly Bird'' (1913: produced in London, with music and dance) * with Martin Shaw *''The Cockyolly Bird: A Book of the Play'' (1914)

References

External links

Mabel Dearmer
by Richard Mammana *
Article on Mabel Dearmer
from 'The Yellow Nineties Online'

blog entry from the British Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Dearmer, Mabel 1872 births 1915 deaths 19th-century illustrators of fairy tales 20th-century British women writers 20th-century English novelists British illustrators British women illustrators British women children's writers British children's book illustrators British women in World War I English children's writers English socialists