Mabel Dearmer

Jessie Mabel Pritchard Dearmer (née White; 22 March 1872 – 15 July 1915) was an English novelist, dramatist and children's book author/illustrator. She was a committed pacifist who died while caring for the war wounded in Serbia.

Early life Born Jessie Mabel Pritchard White, the daughter of surgeon-major William White and Selina Taylor Pritchard, she was educated in London and was trained by W. G. Wills. She entered Hubert von Herkomer's art school in 1891, but left the following year to marry the socialist liturgist priest Percy Dearmer.

Writing career

In 1896, she began contributing illustrations to The Yellow Book, The Savoy and The Studio. She notable created the cover for the Yellow Book's issue number nine. Her letters of that time were, with a memoir by Stephen Gwynn, posthumously published as Letters from a field hospital (1915).

Three months after her death, her younger son Christopher, a Royal Navy pilot was killed after 10 days of active service in the Dardanelles in October 1915 in the Gallipoli Campaign.

Works

Roundabout Rhymes (1898) The Book of Penny Toys (1899) Noah's Ark Geography (1900), also known as The Cockyolly Bird and A Noah’s Ark Geography. A True Account of the Travels and Adventures of Kit, Jum-Jum and the Cockyolly Bird, faithfully set forth and pictured by Mabel Dearmer. The Noisy Years (1903)

The Difficult Way (1905) Brownjohn's (1906) A Child's Life of Christ (1907) The Alien Sisters (1908)

Gervase (1909) Nan Pilgrim (1909) The Soul of the World: A Mystery Play (1911) The Dreamer: A Poetic Drama (1912) The Cockyolly Bird (1913: produced in London, with music and dance) with Martin Shaw The Cockyolly Bird: A Book of the Play (1914)