Edward Keble Chatterton
Edward Keble Chatterton (10 September 1878 – 31 December 1944) was a prolific writer who published around a hundred books, pamphlets and magazine series, mainly on maritime and naval themes.
Biography
Born at number 76, Rock Street, Sheffield, England, he attended Sheffield Royal Grammar School[1] followed by St Paul's School, then located in Hammersmith, London. He took a B.A. at St. Stephen's House, Oxford,[2] before beginning to write theatre and art reviews for various magazines. In 1905, he edited The Lady's Realm[3] for a number of issues.
He undertook a number of small-boat voyages through the English Channel and the Netherlands; out of these voyages came magazine articles[4] and books describing the passages as well as several books on the maritime art collections of the Low Countries.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Chatterton joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V.R.), ultimately commanding a Motor Launch flotilla[5] at Queenstown, now Cobh, in Ireland. He describes these years in Q-Ships and their Story (1922), The Auxiliary Patrol (1924) and Danger Zone: The Story of the Queenstown Command (1934). He left the service in 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
In the inter-war years, his output was continuous, and included a series of monographs on model ships, many narrative histories of naval events, and a number of juvenile novels. Most of his books were republished in the United States and several were translated into French and German editions.
A member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club for many years, he carried out a multi-season voyage to the Mediterranean through the French canals. He described these in a further series of books: his journeys on the Canal de Nantes à Brest are outlined in Through Brittany in "Charmina": From Torbay to the Bay of Biscay in a 6-Tonner (1933), journeys on the Canal du Midi are described in To the Mediterranean in "Charmina" (1934), and journeys along the French Riviera are described in "Charmina" on the Riviera (1937).
After 1939, his writings focused on the conflict with Germany. Hutchinsons published a series documenting the Royal Navy at war, which was completed by Kenneth Edwards following Chatterton's death in 1944.
Published works
- Down the Channel in the "Vivette". London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1910.
- Chatterton, Edward Keble (1912). Fore and aft, the story of the fore & aft rig from the earliest times to the present day. Philadelphia, London: J. B. Lippincott company, Seeley, Service & Co. Ltd. pp. vii, 232–233. at Internet Archive
- Through Holland in the Vivette. London : Seeley, Service & Co., 1913.
- Ventures and voyages. London : Rich & Cowan, 1928.
- Through Brittany in "Charmina". London : Rich & Cowan, 1933.
- Sailing models ancient & modern. London : Hurst & Blackett Ltd, 1934.
Notes
- ^ King Edward VII School Magazine – March, 1945
- ^ Sheffield Royal Grammar School – Magazine, Mar 1897
- ^ Magazine Data File at www.philsp.com
- ^ Small Craft at www.smallcraft.net [dead link ]
- ^ The Movies: Ships and Men of the Royal Motor Launch Patrol, 1914 – 1919 at www.motorlaunchpatrol.net
External links
- Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Bibliography at Bruzelius.info
- Works by Edward Keble Chatterton at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Edward Keble Chatterton at the Internet Archive