John Palmer

John Leslie Palmer (4 September 1885, Paddington, London – 5 August 1944) was an English theatre critic and prolific author. Under his own name, he wrote extensively about early English actors and about British literary figures. He also wrote fiction under the pseudonyms 'John Somers' and 'Christopher Haddon' and collaboratively (with Hilary St. George Saunders) as 'Francis Beeding' and 'David Pilgrim'.

Palmer lived in Geneva for eighteen years from 1920 to 1938, working in the Secretariat of the League of Nations. His long-term collaboration with Hilary Saunders, who was also an employee of the Secretariat, began during those years.

Biography

John Leslie Palmer was born on 4 September 1885 at Paddington in London.

Palmer studied at Balliol College in Oxford University where he was a Brackenbury history scholar. He established his reputation as a theatre critic by the quality of his writing and the publication of two books, The Censor and the Theatres (1912) and The Comedy of Manners (a study of the Restoration dramatists published in 1913). In 1914 a play written by Palmer called Over the Hills, described as a "comedy in one act", was published. During 1915 he had two books on George Bernard Shaw published, as well as another book of fiction, Peter Paragon: A Tale of Youth (published by Dodd, Mead & Co. of New York). Palmer also worked as the dramatic critic for the Evening Standard from 1916 to 1919. One of the members of staff supervised by Palmer at the Secretariat was Hilary St. George Saunders, a fellow graduate of Balliol College at Oxford. The men became friends and began writing collaboratively, writing works of fiction under the pseudonym of 'Francis Beeding'. As 'Francis Beeding' Palmer and Saunders co-authored thirty-one novels, including the gothic novel The House of Dr. Edwardes (later used as the basis for the Hitchcock film Spellbound). Six of the 'Francis Beeding' novels are detective stories: Death Walks at Eastrepps (1931), Murder Intended (1932), The Emerald Clasp (1933), The Norwich Victims (1935), No Fury (1937) and He Could Not Have Slipped (1939). Two are treasure hunt novels: The Street of the Serpents (1934) and The Big Fish (1938). The remainder of the 'Francis Beeding' books are spy novels, beginning with The Seven Sleepers (1925) and ending with There Are Thirteen (published after Palmer's death in 1946). In discussing their collaboration, Saunders commented that "Palmer can't be troubled with description and narrative, and I'm no good at creating characters or dialogue", adding: "Whatever the reason it certainly worked". Many of the 'Francis Beeding' books feature recurring characters such as the British Secret Service agents Alistair Granby and Ronald Briercliffe.

Palmer and Saunders also jointly used the pseudonym 'David Pilgrim', publishing three books of historical fiction under that name. Palmer also published as 'Christopher Haddon'. He also continued to write books of non-fiction, completing biographies of Rudyard Kipling (1928), Molière (1930) and Ben Jonson (1934). Palmer also wrote books on Shakespeare's comic and political characters which were published after his death.

John Palmer died at a hospital in Hampstead on 5 August 1944, aged 58.

Publications

Non-fiction

By John Palmer:

The Censor and the Theatres (1912), London: T. Fisher Unwin. The Comedy of Manners (1913), London: G. Bell & Sons Ltd. The Future of the Theatre (1913), London: G. Bell & Sons Ltd. Bernard Shaw: An Epitaph (1915), London: Grant Richards Ltd. Bernard Shaw: Harlequin or Patriot? (1915), New York: The Century Co. Studies in Contemporary Theatre (1927), Secker. Rudyard Kipling (1928), London: Nisbet & Co. Ltd. Molière: His Life and Works (1930), London: G. Bell & Sons Ltd. Ben Jonson (1934), New York: The Viking Press. Political Characters of Shakespeare (1945), London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd. Comic Characters of Shakespeare (1946), London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd.

Fiction

As 'John Somers':

A Chord Once Struck, London: Murray & Evenden (1912)

As 'David Pilgrim' (Palmer and Saunders):

So Great A Man (1937), a historical novel about Napoleon. No Common Glory (1941) (James de la Cloche series) The Grand Design (1943) (James de la Cloche series)

As 'John Somers' (Palmer and Saunders):

The Brethren of the Axe, London: John Murray (1926)

As 'Christopher Haddon':

Under the Long Barrow (1939), London: Victor Gollancz (US title: The Man in the Purple Gown)