Haydn Dimmock

Frederick Haydn Dimmock MBE (15 December 1895 – 26 April 1955 ) was a British Scouting and science fiction magazine editor, writer of children's literature and supporter of the Boy Scouts Association.

Early life Haydn Dimmock was born in Luton in Bedfordshire and began his education at Enfield, which was then in Middlesex. Dimmock's first encounter with Scouting came in 1909, when a schoolmaster gave him a copy of an early edition of The Scout, which he was told was better than "the trash which I so very often have to confiscate". Dimmock was immediately enthralled, and finding that there was no local Scout troop, started his own patrol. Shortly afterwards, his parents moved to Musselburgh where there was a Scout troop, but later they returned to Enfield. There, Dimmock joined the 5th Enfield Scouts in 1911; he edited the troop's magazine which was so successful that it led to an introduction to Percy Everett, later the Deputy Chief Scout and the editor-in-chief at C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd., the publisher of The Scout. Dimmock was taken on at Pearson's in the post of "office boy". During his time with the magazine, Dimmock initiated a number of ventures to promote both the magazine and Scouting in general like running a daily Scout newspaper at the 3rd World Scout Jamboree,

Science fiction The first British science fiction magazine was launched in 1934, when Pearson's launched Scoops, a weekly in tabloid format aimed at the juvenile market. Soon Dimmock, Scoops Scoops gave British publishers the impression that Britain could not support a science fiction publication.

Other work Dimmock penned a total of sixteen popular junior Scout novels, including 'Hazard Hike' and 'Scout Family Robinson', three adventure novels about the Mounties, together with a number of Scout instructional handbooks and an autobiography. He wrote and directed a documentary film about the Scout Movement, Knights of Freedom, which was released in 1947.

Dimmock was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire "for services to the Boy Scouts Association" in the 1951 New Year Honours.

Published books

Peewits of Pinhoe (1915) The Clue of the Ivory Claw (1919) Scouts' Book of Heroes (1919) The Lost Trooper (1928) The Man from Freezing Point (1923) The Scout's Book (1924) Just a Line. Letters to a Scout (1925) The Caravan Scouts (1926) Pat of the Pony Express (1927) The Camp-Fire Book (1927) Lone Scouts of Crusoe Island (1928) Everyday Things You Want to Know (1930) Lefty-Lone Scout (1935) The Secret of Gaunt House (with Michael Poole, 1935) Omnibus of Dog Stories (1937) Carry on, Hilbury! (1939) Ghost Husky (1939) Hazard Hike (1939) Dupree in Alaska (1939) Bare Knee Days (autobiography, 1939) Rivals of Parham (1939) Always a Scout (1940) Bruce the Troop Dog (1940) Bruce-Detective (1941) Jamboree Journey (1948) Stories for Boys (1948) Dupree's Tenderfoot (1949) Always a Scout (1950) The Troop with a Bad Name (1950) The Scout's How-to-do-it Book (1953) Camping Tips and Gadgets (1953) Things a Scout Can Do (1953) Scouting Dodges (1953) Scout Family Robinson (1954) Bruce Again: Further Adventures Of Bruce The Troop Dog (1955)