Lancelot Cayley Shadwell
| Lancelot Cayley Shadwell | |
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| Born | 26 April 1882 Maida Vale, Paddington, London, UK |
| Died | 28 October 1963 (aged 81) Lyndhurst, Hampshire, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Author, lyricist, and ceramicist |
| Spouse(s) | Dorothy C. Mockett (1878–1949), Mary Longbottom (1891–1969) |
| Children | Lorna Dorothy Cayley Shadwell (1907–1991), Lancelot Rodney Cayley Shadwell (1912–1943) |
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Lancelot Cayley Shadwell (26 April 1882 – 28 October 1963) was an English writer, lyricist, and ceramicist. He wrote the lyrics to a host of popular songs, published three collections of his poetry, and contributed to the popular monthly series, Books for the Bairns, published by W.T Stead to provide affordable literature to children and adults. During World War I, he helped launch and nurture one of the most successful concert parties of the war: the Diamond Troupe of the 29th Division (United Kingdom). In the mid-1920s, Shadwell co-founded the Broadstone Potters—a small, but influential producer of studio pottery with links to some of the most important figures in British ceramics.
Lancelot Cayley Shadwell was born in Maida Vale, London in 1882, the son of Captain Thomas Henry John Shadwell (1859–1893) and Mary Feare James (1859–1892). He was born into a family of distinguished legal scholars, which included the renowned Sir Lancelot Shadwell (1779 – 1850), barrister, Member of Parliament, and ultimately Vice-Chancellor of England.
The young Shadwell spent his early years in Ramsgate, Kent, until he was orphaned at age nine. As an only child, he inherited the family estate of nearly £11,500—equivalent in today's money to more than £1.2M. He was sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Frome, Somerset, where his grandfather, Sydney James (1831–1907) was a successful veterinarian.
By the age of 23, Shadwell had returned to Kent, this time to Faversham where, in 1905, he married Dorothy C. Mockett (1878–1949), the eldest daughter of a wealthy Margate businessman and grain merchant, Sherwood Mockett (1850–1922). From that marriage were born two children, first a daughter, Lorna Dorothy Cayley (1907–1991) and then a son, Lancelot Rodney Cayley (1912–1943).
From early on, Lancelot was drawn to the arts—and to the literary arts, in particular. His interest may have sprung from his adolescence in Frome, where he grew up not far from the town's Scientific and Literary Institute (today's Frome Museum). By the outbreak of the First World War, Shadwell, then in his early 30s, could already point to a number of publishing successes. In 1909, he wrote a short children's story entitled Curly's Trip to Toyland and his Visit to the Clockmen, which was issued as part of the popular monthly series, Books for the Bairns, and illustrated by Irish artist Brinsley Le Fanu and AG Addision. Clearly inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the story follows the adventures of a young boy, Curly, who is led by a wise old owl into a subterranean world inhabited by the toys he knows from a local shop window. In the second half of the story, Curly visits a fantasy world of bearded elves and paper cut-out people, which he enters through the narrow door of his family's old grandfather clock.
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