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Marion St John Adcock Webb (5 December 1888 – 2 May 1930)^[1] was an English writer of novels and poetry for children that presaged A. A. Milne, with her character "The Littlest One".^[2]

Life

She was born in Hampstead on 5 December 1888, the daughter of the poet Arthur St John Adcock and Marlon Louise Taylor.^[3] She grew up at 42 Paddington Street and was admitted to St Marylebone School in Marylebone in January 1894, having just turned 5 years old.^[4]

Webb wrote poems for a series of fairy books illustrated by Margaret Tarrant,^[5] with whom she worked on around 20 books.^[6] The treatment of childhood by Tarrant and Webb is now regarded as sentimentalised, typical of its time.^[7] She had no children of her own,^[8] She died 2 May 1930 in London.^[9]

Her work is also considered ahead of its time with entries into fantasy parallel worlds, depictions of strong female leads, and includes intense characterisations of people considered on the margins of society. Good copies of Little Round House change hands for £100s of pounds in the specialist book trade.^[10]

Partial bibliography

Mr Papingay's Flying Shop
Mr Papingay's Ship
Mr Papingay's Caravan
Mr Papingay and the Little Round House
The Little Round House
The Little One In Between
Eliz'beth, Phil and Me
The Littlest One
The Littlest One Again
The Littlest One: His Book
The Littlest One: Third Book
John, Me and the Dickery Dog
The Magic Lamplighter
The House with the Twisting Passage
Knock Three Times! (1917, fantasy novel, illustrated by Tarrant, repub. 1994 by Wordsworth Editions Ltd, reprint. 2007)
A Pocketful of Posies
The Littlest Fairy
The Girls of Chequertrees
Adventures at Chequertrees
Jonathan Mends the Mats
The 'Normous Sunday Story Book

Fairies series

The Pond Fairies
Heath Fairies
Seashore Fairies
Weather Fairies
Wild Fruit Fairies
Twilight Fairies
Orchard Fairies
Forest Fairies
Flower Fairies
Insect Fairies
Seed Fairies
House Fairies
Water Fairies

References

^ "'WEBB, Marion St John". Who's Who. Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
^ Daniel Hahn; Humphrey Carpenter; Mari Prichard (26 March 2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. OUP Oxford. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-19-105726-7.
^ Who's Who Among Living Authors of Older Nations. 1932. p. 416.
^ London, England, School Admissions and Discharges, 1840-1911
^ Daniel Hahn; Humphrey Carpenter; Mari Prichard (26 March 2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. OUP Oxford. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-19-105726-7.
^ Sara Gray (2009). The Dictionary of British Women Artists. Casemate Publishers. pp. 257–. ISBN 978-0-7188-3084-7.
^ Alderson, Brian. "Attwell, Mabel Lucie". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30499. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Memorial noticeThe Queenslander, Thursday 2 October 1930. p. 56.
^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
^ The Little Round House. January 1924.