Arthur Mee (1875 - 1943) was a British writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for The Children's Encyclopedia, which he founded and edited. He also produced other works, usually with a patriotic tone, especially on the subjects of history or the countryside. He came from a Methodist up-bringing, and supported the temperance movement.
He was born in Nottingham, England, to a modest family. As a boy he earned money from reading the reports of Parliament to a local blind man. He left school at 14 to join a local newspaper; he became an editor by age 20. He contributed many non-fiction articles to magazines and joined the staff of The Daily Mail in 1898. He was made Literary Editor five years later.
After publishing several books, in 1908 he began work on The Children's Encyclopedia, which came out in a fortnightly magazine form. A complete bound form in ten volumes was not published until after his death. After the success of The Children's Encyclopedia he came up with the first newspaper published for children; the weekly Children's Newspaper. This was published until 1965.
Although he made money from these works, he did not receive a fair share, according to his biographer J. Hammerton . He had a large house built overlooking the hills near Sevenoaks in Kent. Its development from design stage to the final building was depicted in The Children's Encyclopedia.
Mee had one child but despite his work declared that he had no particular affinity with children. It is clear from his works for them that his interest was in trying to encourage the raising of a generation of patriotic and moral citizens.
He died in London and his books continued to be published after his death (for example, The King's England, a guide to the counties of England). Mee's works were successful abroad: his Encyclopedia was translated into Chinese and sold well in the US, and some are still published.
Reference
- John Hammerton (1946) Child of wonder
External links
Last updated: 08-22-2005 13:18:22
