Ward Muir
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Wardrop Openshaw Muir (22 June 1878 – 9 June 1927) was a British photographer, journalist, editor, and author, known as Ward Muir.


Early life

Muir was born in
Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, the younger son of the Rev. J. J. Muir, a minister of the Waterloo
Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th-century and 20th-century Presbyterianism, Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian ...
, and his wife Sarah Openshaw Clapperton, both born in Scotland. His older brother and sister had also been born there, and his father had previously served as a minister in
St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; ) is the Capital city, capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island' ...
,
Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
. The young Muir was educated at
Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby is a 7–18 boys private day school, located in Great Crosby on Merseyside. The school's motto is that of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors: ''Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt'' (Small Things Grow ...
, and
Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...
. Muir was given his first camera by a Scottish clergyman, and by 1894, while still at school, was a committee member of the Waterloo Social Camera Club. In 1895, he gave a lecture to the club on "Reminiscences of Scotland", illustrated by magic lantern slides. After leaving school, Muir matriculated at
Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...
, but soon after that his health broke down, due to a lung disease, and he was ordered to go to
Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...
. While there, he started writing stories for boys and met an editor of Northcliffe newspapers. This led to a job at Carmelite House in
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
, working on women's magazines. His publisher later commented "Heaven only knows how many pseudonyms he must have adopted here, but I believe his nerve deserted him when it came to the fashion hints." After travelling in France, the Low Countries, Italy, and Austria, about 1898 Muir began selling photographic work to magazines. In March of that year, he joined the
Cyclists' Touring Club Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ Touring Club", and is c ...
from an address in Waterloo. Muir became active in the Practical Correspondence College, which taught how to make photography pay. In 1902, Muir's father died, while on a visit to Scotland, leaving an estate valued at more than £6,000, . His mother died in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
in November 1914.


Career

At the age of twenty-three, Muir settled in London as a freelance journalist. His photographs and writing appeared in the magazine ''
Camera Work ''Camera Work'' was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It presented high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world. The goal of the journal was to establi ...
'' in its first year, 1903, and were still appearing there in the summer of 1914. He took long breaks from work to travel, covering all of Europe, apart from the Balkans and Scandinavia, also visiting Egypt and North America. It was later reported that he had been "compelled to travel throughout a good many years of his life as a means of fighting the lung disease which eventually killed him." Muir's novel ''When We Are Rich'' (1911) is a tale of Bohemian art student life, with "a fascinating flirt, a delightful old maid, and a generous baron". His next novel, ''Cupid's Caterers'' (1914) mocks the business of women's magazines, through a fictional one called ''Honeysuckle''. It also has hard words for the profession of journalism. A review of the book in ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'' notes the line "in its way, a ''Spectator'' article is no more difficult than a ''Honeysuckle'' one. During 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 ...
, Muir made several unsuccessful attempts to enlist in the army, but in 1915 was accepted as a private into the
Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...
, joining up with a group of artists and writers from the
Chelsea Arts Club Chelsea Arts Club is a private members' club at 143 Old Church Street in Chelsea, London with a membership of over 4,000, including artists, sculptors, architects, writers, designers, actors, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The club wa ...
. He served as an orderly with his artist friends
Francis Derwent Wood Francis Derwent Wood (15 October 1871– 19 February 1926) was a British sculptor. Biography Early life Wood was born at Keswick in Cumbria and studied in Germany and returned to London in 1887 to work under Édouard Lantéri and Sir Thomas ...
and
C. R. W. Nevinson Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...
, working at the Third London General Hospital at Wandsworth, where he established a magazine, "Happy Though Wounded". In ''Observations of an Orderly'' (1917), Muir wrote of wounded soldiers arriving from the theatres of war and "the spontaneous geniality of the battered occupants". This book was followed by ''The Happy Hospital'' (1918). Muir was promoted to Lance Corporal and ended the war serving on the Italian front. In 1919, Muir wrote a series of memoirs for '' The Amateur Photographer'', under the title "Photographic Days". Also in 1919, the publisher Ivor Nicholson wrote a complimentary two-page article about Muir which appeared in '' The Bookman''. He noted that "Ward Muir is a really expert photographer and is one of the very few men who have succeeded in writing interestingly about photography."Ivor Nicholson, "Ward Muir", '' The Bookman'', Vol. 55 (1919), pp. 5–6 In October 1920, Muir was reported to have suffered a breakdown in health, due to over-work, soon after completing a book of short stories, ''Adventures in Marriage''. This led to a long stay in Switzerland to recover. After his return, Muir worked as a writer and photographer for ''The Amateur Photographer''. His weekly column "Critical Causerie" appeared under the pen name of "The Bandit", but he was still in poor health. In 1924, Muir's story "The Reward of Enterprise" was included in Catharine Dawson Scott's collection ''Twenty-Three Stories by Twenty and Three Authors''. Muir's novel ''No Fuss'' was published two months after his death. The central character, Miriam, has many lovers in artistic circles in Chelsea, mostly rich men. In its review, ''The Spectator'' comments that the minor characters are very life-like, but "It is difficult to believe in the beautiful Miriam herself and impossible to suppose that she lived happily and virtuously ever after in the company of Bob Taylor, a very unexciting person." Muir died at home, at 44
Mecklenburgh Square Mecklenburgh Square is a Grade II listed square in Bloomsbury, London. The square and its garden were part of the Foundling Estate, a residential development of 1792–1825 on fields surrounding and owned by the Foundling Hospital. The square was ...
, St Pancras, on 9 June 1927. He was reported to have been in poor health for a long time, with a final decline lasting some weeks. He left a widow, Dorothea Muir, and an estate valued at £2,614, .


Novels

*''The Amazing Mutes: their week in lovely Lucerne'' (1910) *''When We Are Rich: a callow chronicle of frivolous affairs'' (London: Stanley Paul & Co., 1911) *''Cupid's Caterers'' (London: Stanley Paul and Co., 1914) *''Further East than Asia: a romantic adventure'' (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1919) *''Jones in Paris'' (London: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1926) *''No Fuss'' (London: Richards, 1927) *''The Bewildered Lover'' (London: John Lane, 1928)


Short stories

*"Sargasso" (1908)Republished in Mike Ashley, ed., ''From the Depths and Other Strange Tales of the Sea'' (2018) *"The Man With the Ebony Crutches" (February 1908) *"Detective Tempest Faces the Music" (1912) *"The Reward of Enterprise" (1913) *"The Chic Lady of Snowland" (1921) *''Adventures in Marriage'' (London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1920)


Non-fiction

*''Observations of an Orderly: Some Glimpses of Life and Work in an English War Hospital'' (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, & Co., 1917) *''The Happy Hospital'' (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, 1918) *"Visiting-Day at a War Hospital: some varied memories of contrasting callers", ''The War Illustrated'', 27 April 1918, pp. 203–204 *''A Camera for Company'' (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1923)


Notes


External links


"Author: Ward Muir"
Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...

Ward Muir
Online Books Page The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several fe ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Wardrop Openshaw 1878 births 1927 deaths 20th-century British novelists British photographers People educated at Brighton College People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers