Percy F. Westerman

Percy Francis Westerman (1876 – 22 February 1959) was an English author of children's literature, with a prolific output. Many of his books are adventure stories with military and naval themes.

Biography He was born in Portsmouth, England in 1876, and educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, before taking up a clerical appointment at Portsmouth Dockyard at the age of twenty. He married Florence Wager, of Portsmouth, in 1900. Always keen sailors, they spent part of their honeymoon sailing in the Solent. Their son, John F.C. Westerman, born in 1901, also wrote adventure books for boys.

At the age of 70 he was reluctantly forced by a fall to leave his houseboat for dry land, but he continued writing apace. He died at the age of 82, and his last book, Mistaken Identity, was published posthumously in 1959.

Writing career His writing career allegedly began with a sixpence bet made with his wife that he could write a better story than the one he was reading to his son, who was at the time ill with chickenpox.

His first book for boys, A Lad of Grit, was published by Blackie and Son Limited in 1908. In the same year, Baden-Powell founded the Scouting movement, which strongly influenced many of Westerman's books – he was a particularly keen supporter of the Sea Scouts.

He published a further three books in 1911, which were so successful that he gave up his Admiralty appointment that year to become a full-time author. He lived on board a houseboat – a converted Thames barge – on the River Frome at Wareham in Dorset, where he wrote the majority of his books.

An early book, The Flying Submarine (published in 1912) may indicate Westerman's genre. This boys' adventure novel was about a mysterious man from a South American country. He was an inventor, who had discovered a new kind of lighter-than-air gas that he called "helia", which was much lighter than helium or hydrogen. He used helia in many inventions, including back-packs that could help a man float in the air or fly upwards, and in the remarkable titular submarine that could, when enough helia was used, fly! Eventually he used his flying submarine to win a war between his South American country and its belligerent neighbour.

It is highly likely that Westerman derived the idea for this super-weapon from Jules Verne's Terror, the speedboat, submarine, automobile, or aircraft superweapon invented by Verne's arch-hero Robur in Master of the World and The Clipper of the Clouds.

Similarly Westerman's South American conflict reflects the wars between Paraguay and Uruguay.

During the First World War, he was initially employed on coastal duties by the Royal Navy, but in 1918 he was commissioned, like W. E. Johns, in the Royal Flying Corps, as an instructor of navigation. During the Second World War he commanded the Arne platoon of the 7th Dorset Home Guard battalion (Wareham) from June 1940 until 26 December 1942. He wrote to Blackie of his service in the two wars that "neither appointment seriously interfered with my literary output."

During the 1930s Westerman was voted the most popular author of stories for boys. His books sold over one and a half million copies in his lifetime (total sales at his death were 1,599,000). He published at least 174 books, with 12 different firms.

Bibliography

Publication dates as listed by the British Library. Many titles were reissued subsequently, some several times.

No. TitleSubtitle PublisherPlaceYear IllustratorNotes 1 A Lad of Grit Blackie and Son Ltd. London and Glasgow 1908 Edward S. Hodgson Project Gutenberg 2 The Young Cavalier C. Arthur Pearson London 1909 Gordon Browne Project Gutenberg 3 The Winning of the Golden Spurs James Nisbet and Co. London 1911 'The Winning of the Golden Spurs was first searialised in Young England in 1910. The book was illustrated but the name of the illustrator was not stated. However, they were said to be an artist of established reputation.Project Gutenberg 4 The Quest of the "Golden Hope" A seventeenth century story of adventure Blackie and Son Ltd. London and Glasgow 1912 Frank E. Wiles Project Gutenberg 5 The Flying Submarine James Nisbet and Co. London 1912 Faded Page 6 Captured at Tripoli Blackie and Son Ltd. London and Glasgow 1912 Charles M. Sheldon Project Gutenberg 7 The Sea Monarch Adam and Charles Black London 1912 Edward S. Hodgson This story was first serialised in Volume XXV of The Captain from April to September 1911.Project Gutenberg 8 The Scouts of Seal Island Adam and Charles Black London 1913 Ernest Prater Project Gutenberg 9 The Rival Submarines S. W. Partridge and Co. London 1913 C. Fleming Williams Project Gutenberg 10 The Stolen Cruiser Jarrold and Sons London 1913 Project Gutenberg 11 When East Meets West A story of the yellow peril Blackie and Son Ltd. London and Glasgow 1913 C. M. Padday 12 Under King Henry's Banners A story of the days of Agincourt Pilgrim Press London 1913 John Campbell Under King Henry's Banners was reviewed by the Westminster Gazette on 16 December 1913.Project Gutenberg 13 The Log of a Snob Chapman and Hall London 1914 W. Edward Wigfull This was the first of over twenty book by Westerman which Wigfull illustrated. 14 The Sea-Girt Fortress A story of Heligoland Blackie and Son Ltd. London and Glasgow 1914 W. E. Wigfull Project Gutenberg 15 The Sea Scouts of the "Petrel" Adam and Charles Black London 1914 16 Gainst the Might of Spain| A story of the days of the Great Armada | Pilgrim Press | London | 1914

| 55 | Captain Cain| | James Nisbet and Co. | London | 1924 | |Faded Page |- | 56 | The Good Ship "Golden Effort"| | Blackie and Son Ltd. | London and Glasgow | 1924

|Faded Page |- | 63 | The Sea Scouts of the "Kestrel"| | Seeley, Service and Co. | London | 1926 | | Faded Page |- | 64 | Annesley's Double| | Adam and Charles Black | London | 1926 | |Faded Page |- | 65 | King of Kilba| | Ward, Lock & Co. | London and Melbourne | 1926

| 69 | Mystery Island| | Oxford University Press & Humphrey Milford | London | 1927 | | Faded Page |- | 70 | Captain Blundell's Treasure| | Blackie and Son Ltd. | London and Glasgow | 1927

Percy F. Westerman

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