E. H. W. Meyerstein

Edward Harry William Meyerstein (11 August 1889 – 12 September 1952) was an English writer and scholar. He wrote poetry and short stories, and a Life Of Thomas Chatterton.

Meyerstein was born in Hampstead, London, the only son of Edward William Meyerstein and his wife Jessy Louise Solomon. His father was a merchant and stockbroker who was generous benefactor to the Royal Free Hospital became High Sheriff of Kent and was knighted in 1938. Meyerstein was educated at Holly Hill Hampstead, and then went to board at St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne. At St Cyprian's, he met the future painter Cedric Morris, started collecting manuscripts from local bookshops and won the Harrow History Prize. With this under his belt, his mother then sent him to Harrow. Brought up as a Protestant, he was baptised before going to Harrow, with George Adolphus Storey the painter as his godfather. After Harrow, he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he had many friends including Wilfred Rowland Childe and John Wain. His verse was published in Oxford Poetry 1910-13 and later volumes.

After Oxford, Meyerstein spent some time in Germany before starting work in the manuscript room of the British Museum. In the autumn of 1914 he enlisted in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but was discharged as "not likely to become an efficient soldier".

He returned to the British Museum where he stayed until Armistice Day 1918. He was becoming increasingly discontented with regular work, but a visit from his mother became the final straw and he resigned. Here he based his short novel "Bollond", which although written in 1920 remained unpublished until 1958, after his death. It is the story of a young man's misadventures adrift in the West End of London in the last months of the War. Reginald Bollond, the central character, unwittingly attracts the attention of a series of homosexuals, including a cocaine dealer who wants to set him up as a rent boy. Meyerstein decided to develop his writing and his collections and his interests in the arts. He became a Fellow of Magdalen College and considered himself a man of letters thereafter. Apart from occasional holidays in the English countryside and in Europe, he spent most of his life in his rooms at Greys Inn Place. He wrote "A Life of Thomas Chatterton" - the promising poet who committed suicide at an early age - in 1930 and produced various works of poetry which were published in collections. Occasional music criticism also appeared under his name in the journal Music Survey.

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