James Lennox Kerr

James Lennox Kerr (1 July 1899 – 11 March 1963) was a Scottish socialist author noted for his children's stories written under the pseudonym of Peter Dawlish.

Kerr lived in Paisley until 1915, joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve by claiming to be 18, then served on merchant ships until 1929. After spending some time in Australia and America he settled in Pimlico in 1930, marrying Elizabeth "Mornie" Birch of Penwith, Cornwall in 1932. She was the daughter of Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch the RA painter.

His first book, for adults, Back Door Guest, described life as a hobo in USA and Canada, and is full of social comment which was then controversial. He wrote 32 books for children, most with a nautical theme and 23 books for adults, many commenting on working class life in Scotland, America and Australia. As an author he used, in addition to his own name, the pseudonyms "Gavin Douglas" for adult books and "Peter Dawlish" for children's books after 1938.

Kerr was a self-proclaimed socialist, but he was never a member of the Communist Party. He joined and then left the Labour Party. W. H. Marwick, in his bibliography on Scottish economic history, comments on the role of Kerr in representing proletariat labourers in his novels. Kerr was survived by a son, Adam Kerr, whose reminiscences of his father were used in works by authors Austin Wormleighton and Stephen Bigger. Books in the series include:

1947:Dauntless Finds Her Crew 1948:Dauntless Sails Again 1949:Dauntless and the Mary Baines 1950:Dauntless Takes Recruits 1952:Dauntless Sails In 1954:Dauntless in Danger 1957:Sailors All! 1960:Dauntless Goes Home

Other children’s books using the Peter Dawlish pseudonym include:

1953:The Bagodia Episode (An adventure story set in Australia) 1954:Young Drake of Devon 1955:He Went with Drake 1955:Way for a Sailor 1956:North Sea Adventure 1956:Martin Frobisher 1958:Aztec Gold 1959:The Race for Gowrie Bay (about sealing) 1962:The Boy Jacko 1963:The Seas of Britain (non-fiction) 1963:The Royal Navy (non-fiction) 1960:Johnno, the Deep-Sea Diver, the Life Story of Diver Johnson as told to Peter Dawlish by John Johnstone. 1966:Merchant Navy (non-fiction)

He also wrote adult novels as Gavin Douglas. 1935:Rough Passage (London:Collins) The Tall Man (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1936) 1936:The Obstinate Captain Samson (London:Collins/New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1937) 1937:Captain Samson, A.B. (London:Collins) 1938:The Search for the Blue Sedan (London:Collins) 1948:A Tale of Pimlico (London:Robert Hale) 1949:The Scuffler (London:Robert Hale) 1949:Seamanship for Passengers (London: John Lehman) 1951:The Struggle (London:Robert Hale)