W. E. Johns
| William Earl Johns | |
|---|---|
| Born |
5 February 1893 Bengeo, Hertford, United Kingdom |
| Died | 21 June 1968 (aged 75) London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, United Kingdom |
| Pen name | Captain W. E. Johns |
| Occupation | Aviator, author, editor |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1922–68 |
| Genre | Adventure fiction, War fiction, Science Fiction |
| Subject | Aviation |
| Spouse | Maude Penelope Hunt (m. 1914) |
| Partner | Doris May Leigh |
| Children | William Earl Carmichael Johns (1916–1954) |
William Earl Johns (5 February 1893 – 21 June 1968) was an English pilot and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the pen name Captain W. E. Johns. He is best remembered as the creator of the ace pilot and adventurer Biggles.
Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertford, England, the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. A younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, was born on 24 October 1895. Johns' early ambition was to be a soldier, being a crack shot with a rifle. In January 1905, he attended Hertford Grammar School. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.
Johns was not a natural scholar. He included some of his experiences at this school in his book Biggles Goes to School (1951). In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor for four years and in 1912 was appointed as a sanitary inspector in Swaffham in Norfolk. Soon afterwards, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47. On 6 October 1914 Johns married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Rev. John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. Their only son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, was born in March 1916.
In 1913, while living in Swaffham, and working as a sanitary inspector, Johns enlisted in the Territorial Army as a trooper in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry). The regiment was mobilised in August 1914 and was sent overseas in September 1915, embarking on RMS Olympic. The Norfolk Yeomanry fought (as infantry) at Gallipoli until December when they were withdrawn to Egypt. In September 1916 Johns transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. While serving on the Macedonian front in Greece he was hospitalised with malaria. After recovering he was commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in September 1917 and posted back to England for flight training.
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