The Examples of the front covers of a few of E. Harcourt Burrage's book appear further down the page

Athol Harcourt Burrage     1899 – 1951
(Information kindly provided by Mr Gregory Philpott of Auckland, New Zealand)

Athol Harcourt Burrage was born at Margaret Villa, St Johns Road, Reigate in Surrey on 22^nd March, 1899, the son of Edwin Harcourt Burrage and his wife Alice Louisa Burrage – formerly Reynolds. Athol was the youngest (twin) child of a large family. His siblings being Fernie (1880 - 1902), Marguerite (Rita) (1883 - 1955), John Alfred (1885), Constance Hilda (1886 - 1987), Norman George (1887 - 1888) Awdry Hamilton (1889 - 1917), Douglas Gerald (1890 - 1966), Alice Bessie (1895 - 95),  Noel Howard (1898 - 1910) and his twin brother Eric Harcourt (1899 - 1965). In 1911 the family were residing at 168 Station Road in Redhill. Athol was educated at Reigate Grammar School. Athol was the only member of the family to permanently settle in Redhill.

Burrage was one of a family of prolific nineteenth and twentieth-century boys’ writers with his father, sister Rita Coatts and uncle Alfred Sherrington Burrage being acknowledged as authors of their time.

In his younger days Athol travelled in Europe and then worked his passage on SS Cape Havre to Canada to visit his brother John. He again travelled to Canada (Vancouver) in early 1949.

Burrage established the 28^th Reigate Boy Scout Group (including Cubs and Rovers sections) in October 1923 with a strength of six boys, using the old Mission Hall in Monson Road as Headquarters.

The Troop grew rapidly and a Cub pack was started in 1923.  During the next few years the Group made steady progress and in 1929 had the honour of representing the Reigate Association at the World Jamboree in Arrowe Park. Burrage was the contingent leader. 1932 saw the Group moving into new HQs in Alpine Road. Burrage resigned in 1933. It is recognised that he used characters of boys in the Troop as models for his own story characters.

(From 1945 to 1950 the Group was registered as 28th Reigate – Holy Trinity. In 1959 its registration was changed to 28th Reigate – Redhill. In 1967 the 3rd, 4th and 5th Reigate Groups were merged to form 5th Reigate.)

Burrage was an air raid warden before WW2 started and in the early phase of the war was an officer in the Home Guard. He then volunteered for active service and served in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the Royal Air Force initially as a sergeant. He was commissioned as a Pilot Office (on probation - emergency) on 24^th February, 1944 and promoted to Flying Officer 24^th August, 1944. He commanded a mobile signals unit in Belgium.

After the war Burrage was connected with the Liberal Party and the Redhill and Reigate Young Writers Circle which he had helped to form

Burrage’s first book was published in 1925 and he went on to pen a total of 24 titles (British Library catalogue) – thirteen of these were school adventures, four were air-related and four sea-related adventures. He maintained a steady output, except for the years of World War Two and his last book was published posthumously in 1953.

Mrs. Kathleen Knight, a resident of Redhill in The Inter-war Years 1918 – 1939, reminiscences “Two well-known people that I remember coming to Shepherd's shop were novelists. One was Mr. Athol Harcourt Burrage, son of novelist father E. Harcourt Burrage. Athol wrote ‘Three Chums’ novels plus many other boys’ adventure titles. I remember that he was a short man mindful of Ronnie Corbett, and at the time lived in Wiggie Lane with his mother. He would buy the shop girls sweets for selling his books”.

Burrage died in Redhill County Hospital, Surrey on 13^th June, 1951 aged 52, only three years after his mother had passed away. At the time of his death, Burrage was living at 15 Woodlands Road, Redhill where he had made a home for his widowed mother.

Obituary in Surrey Mirror 13th June 1951.

To his colleagues in the writing profession and also to a host of friends in the Borough of Reigate and well beyond its confines, the news of the sudden death, on Wednesday morning, of Athol Harcourt Burrage, at his home, 15 Woodlands Road Redhill. will come as a great shock, for he was as active as usual right up to the day of his death and in fact, visited London on Tuesday. Born in Redhill in 1899, he was the youngest son of the late Mr E. Harcourt Burrage, who, besides being a borough councillor at the turn of the century, was one of the most popular author of boys' stories. Athol, who was educated at Elmside and Reigate Grammar School, followed in his father's footsteps - and in the family tradition - and from the publication of his first book, 'The Idol of Moncreeth', in 1924, he went on to become as popular an author of buys' stories as his father had been. At the time of his death he had something like fifty books to his credit. including school, air, sea and adventure stories. In addition he wrote numerous short stories, some of which have been broadcast and one of them dramatised as a short play for juveniles. he found material, the stock-in-trade of the craft of writing, in almost everything he undertook but primarily from travels abroad to Denmark, Belgium, France, Holland, Germany and America, and on one ocassion as a member of a crew of a windjammer sailing to Finland.

An extremely energetic person, Mr A. Harcourt Burrage found time despite his writing activities and travels to play his part in local life. He was for many years a keen member of the Boy Scout movement, and established the 28th Reigate Troop within the Holy Trinity parish, Redhill, achieving a membership of sixty cubs, scouts and rovers during his regime. He was an air raid warden before the commencement of hostilities in 1939, joined the Home Guard (in which he was commissioned) when Mr Eden made his historic broadcast in 1940, and ended his war service in the Royal Air Force for which he volunteered and with which he served in Belgium as Officer Commanding a Mobile Signals Unit. When he returned to civilian life he continued to write prolifically and added to his experiences by further travelling including a visit to Canada to visit his brother Jack. He found time to help young (and sometimes older) would-be writers by his participation in the activities of the Redhill and Reigate Writers' Circle, and took a prominent part in the resuscitation of the Borough of Reigate Liberal Party, in whose cause he was a lively and hard worker. Of a cheery disposition he was a good son to his mother, Alice Burrage, looking after her devotedly in her declining years 9she died in 1949 not long before her 90th birthday) and was a good companion to all those who had the good fortune to share his friendship.

Evacuated during the height of the Second World War from London to Frapbay (a Devon fishing village), four Sea Scouts, under Patrol Leader Wendy Bray, carry on their own Troop. The Patrol includes Peter Gayford “Carrots” Dulake, Jimmy Marsh, and Terry Dixon.

While sailing in the bay, a brief but dense sea-fog descends. Wendy Bray boards an unmanned launch they sight during a partial and momentary lifting of the fog. Later the fog clears, but the Patrol Leader and the unmanned launch have vanished. By their ingenuity and Scoutcraft, the rest of the Patrol reveal a German inspired and conducted “sabotage organisation”, contact with occupied France (and passage, between the two countries, of highly trained personnel) being maintained by craft that are navigated and controlled entirely by remote means.

A fairly rare book. This copy is falling to pieces and has been held together with cellotape, hence the lines across the front cover.

Alfred Sherrington's son, Alfred McLelland. Burrage, who was born in 1890 at Hillingdon, Middlesex, also took up writing and may have been more successful than his father. He wrote for many boys' papers but also branched out into other markets. He served in the army during WW1 and wrote 'War is War', his memoirs of his army service..