John Meade Falkner

John Meade Falkner, the son of an English clergyman, lived from 1858 to 1932. He had a traditional British education and, after graduating from Oxford, took a job tutoring some children while thinking about his future. The children’s father was an important business man; he was impressed by Falkner and offered him a job which lead to him becoming Director, and later Chairman, of the huge Armstrong-Whitworth armaments company. His work often took him abroad and in his spare time he enjoyed rummaging through dusty libraries and market-places. He became an expert on ancient manuscripts as well as archaeology, folklore, history, architecture and church music. He was a man of many parts and a man with boundless energy.

He also found time to write four novels – he lost the manuscript of the fourth one on a train, and never rewrote it! His second novel, Moonfleet, became a classic; it is an adventure in the tradition of Treasure Island, with fine characterisation, strong story and vivid impressions of life in an eighteenth century Dorset smuggling village.