William Matthew Scott
| William Matthew Scott | |
|---|---|
Will Scott, 1925
|
|
| Born | William Matthew Scott 30 September 1893 Leeds, Yorkshire |
| Died | 7 May 1964 (age 70) Herne Bay, Kent |
| Pen name | Will Scott |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, playwright, children's writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1920–1964 |
| Genre | Detective, thriller, mystery, children's, short story |
| Notable works | The Cherrys series, Disher Detective, The Limping Man |
William Matthew Scott (born Leeds 30 September 1893; d. Herne Bay 7 May 1964), pen name Will Scott, was a British author of stories and books for adults and children, published from 1920 to 1965. Towards the end of his life he was best known for The Cherrys series, written for children and published between 1952 and 1965. However, in earlier years he was known for his detective novels, his stage plays which were made into films, notably The Limping Man in 1931 and 1936, and for the 2,000 short stories that he contributed to magazines and newspapers; believed to be a record for the United Kingdom during his lifetime. As of 2011, his books are out of print.
William Matthew Scott was born at 128 Camp Road (now Oatland Lane) in Little London, Leeds, Yorkshire on 30 September 1893. Camp Road was demolished in the 1960s. His place of birth was next to the poor Jewish immigrant area of tailors and shoemakers, called the Leylands, in the All Souls district of Leeds. At least until 1911 Scott lived in the working-class areas of Little London and Woodhouse, next to Meanwood Beck. The area has a history of poverty, and within living memory were the Woodhouse cholera epidemic of the 1840s, and the typhoid epidemic in nearby Headingley of 1889. When Scott was born, the middens and ashpits which had nurtured the diseases were being replaced by communal water closets. That meant that inhabitants of the back-to-backs had to walk to the end of the row to use the lavatory or empty a chamber pot but they would not catch cholera; communal outside lavatories and cobbled streets with washing lines overhead persisted while Scott lived there. However it should be remembered that street communities were strong, public transport was efficient and good quality education and libraries were available for working people. All the addresses at which Scott lived in his youth were demolished in the early 1960s slum clearances to make way for new council estates, but it should be remembered that many of these buildings were known to be repairable, so that "slum" was often a misnomer.
...
Wikipedia