H. J. Massingham
Encyclopedia
Harold John Massingham was a prolific British writer on matters to do with the countryside and agriculture
. He was also a published poet.
and Queen's College, Oxford. He failed to graduate from Oxford, because of bad health. He then became a journalist in London. He worked for the Morning Leader, Athenaeum
, and the Nation, and knew D. H. Lawrence
.
He was strongly influenced by Gilbert White
and edited selections of White's writings.
He was one of a group of 'ruralist' British writers of the period; Massingham's friend Adrian Bell
, a farmer in Suffolk
, was another prominent writer. They have attracted subsequent attention both as precursors to later developments, such as organic farming
, and because of their political entanglements in the context of the 1930s (with the example of Henry Williamson
as a supporter of Oswald Mosley
). Massingham himself wrote in a vein compatible with the Social Credit
and distributist ideas current at the time (The Tree of Life from 1943 is still cited).
He was one of the twelve members of the Kinship in Husbandry, set up in 1941 by Rolf Gardiner
, a society dedicated to countryside revival in a post-war world. According to academics Richard Moore-Colyer and Philip Conford, Massingham was uncomfortable with what he felt was a pro-German tendency in this group. When the Kinship later merged with two other bodies to form the Soil Association
, Massingham with Gardiner, the landowner Lord Portsmouth
and the agricultural journalist Lawrence Easterbrook came onto the Soil Association's Council.
the director of public information films and of Dorothy Massingham, playwright and actress. His mother was Emma Jane née Snowdon, daughter of Henry Snowdon of St. Leonards Priory, Norwich.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. He was also a published poet.
Life
He was brought up in London, and educated at Westminster SchoolWestminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
and Queen's College, Oxford. He failed to graduate from Oxford, because of bad health. He then became a journalist in London. He worked for the Morning Leader, Athenaeum
Athenaeum (magazine)
The Athenaeum was a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921. It had a reputation for publishing the very best writers of the age....
, and the Nation, and knew D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
.
He was strongly influenced by Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
and edited selections of White's writings.
He was one of a group of 'ruralist' British writers of the period; Massingham's friend Adrian Bell
Adrian Bell
Adrian Bell was an English journalist and farmer, who was the first compiler of The Times crossword.-Life:The son of a newspaper editor, he was born in London and educated at Uppingham School in Rutland...
, a farmer in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, was another prominent writer. They have attracted subsequent attention both as precursors to later developments, such as organic farming
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
, and because of their political entanglements in the context of the 1930s (with the example of Henry Williamson
Henry Williamson
Henry William Williamson was an English naturalist, farmer and prolific author known for his natural and social history novels. He won the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 with his book Tarka the Otter....
as a supporter of Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
). Massingham himself wrote in a vein compatible with the Social Credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...
and distributist ideas current at the time (The Tree of Life from 1943 is still cited).
He was one of the twelve members of the Kinship in Husbandry, set up in 1941 by Rolf Gardiner
Rolf Gardiner
Henry Rolf Gardiner was an English rural revivalist and sympathizer with Nazism. He was founder of groups significant in the British history of organic farming, as well being a participant in inter-war far right politics.-Early life:...
, a society dedicated to countryside revival in a post-war world. According to academics Richard Moore-Colyer and Philip Conford, Massingham was uncomfortable with what he felt was a pro-German tendency in this group. When the Kinship later merged with two other bodies to form the Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
, Massingham with Gardiner, the landowner Lord Portsmouth
Gerard Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth
Gerard Vernon Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth , styled Viscount Lymington from 1925 until 1943, was a British landowner, writer on agricultural topics, and politician.-Early life:...
and the agricultural journalist Lawrence Easterbrook came onto the Soil Association's Council.
Works
Books for Libraries Press, 1967- Dogs, Birds, and Others (1921) letters to The SpectatorThe SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, editor - Some Birds Of The Countryside: The Art Of Nature (1921)
- "John Clare." The Athenaeum. 4732 (7 Jan. 1921): 9-10.
- Poems About Birds from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (1922) editor
- Untrodden Ways - Adventures of English Coasts, Heaths and Marshes and Also Among the Works of Hudson, Crabbe and Other Country Writers (1923)
- Sanctuaries for Birds and How to Make Them (1924)
- In Praise of England (1924) miscellany
- H. W. M.: A Selection From the Writings of H. W. Massingham (1925) editor
- Downland Man (1926)
- Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum: The Giants in England (1926)
- The Golden Age: the story of Human Nature (1927)
- The Heritage of Man (1929)
- Guide to the Cotswolds. with Clough Williams-EllisClough Williams-EllisSir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was an English-born Welsh architect known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.-Origins, education and early career:...
, and others - Pre-Roman Britain (1930)
- The Friend of Shelley: A Memoir of Edward John TrelawnyEdward John TrelawnyEdward John Trelawny was a biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family of modest income but extensive ancestral history...
(1930) - A Treasury of seventeenth Century English Verse(1931) editor
- Birds of the Seashore (1931)
- Wold Without End (1932)
- London Scene (1933)
- The Great Victorians (1932) with Hugh Massingham
- English Country: Fifteen Essays by Various Authors (1934) editor, with H. E. BatesH. E. BatesHerbert Ernest Bates, CBE , better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.-Early life:...
, Edmund BlundenEdmund BlundenEdmund Charles Blunden, MC was an English poet, author and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was also a reviewer for English publications and an academic in Tokyo and later Hong Kong...
, W. H. DaviesW. H. DaviesWilliam Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time...
, Vita Sackville-WestVita Sackville-WestThe Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH , best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933...
, A. G. StreetA. G. StreetArthur George Street , who wrote under the name of A. G. Street, was an English farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber...
, John Collier - Country (1934 (Illustrated with Photographs by Edgar Ward
- Through the Wilderness (1935)
- English Downland (1936)
- The Genius of England (1937)
- The Writings of Gilbert White of Selborne. (Nonesuch Press, 1938) editor, two volumes with engravings by Eric RaviliousEric RaviliousEric William Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.-Career:Ravilious studied at Eastbourne School of Art, and at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Paul Nash and became close friends with Edward Bawden.He began his working life as a muralist,...
- Britain and the Beast (1937) essay volume with A. G. StreetA. G. StreetArthur George Street , who wrote under the name of A. G. Street, was an English farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber...
, J. M. Keynes, John MooreJohn Moore- Clergy :*John Moore , British Scholar*John Moore , English Baptist minister from Northampton*John Moore , Archbishop of Canterbury, Privy Counsellor...
, E. M. ForsterE. M. ForsterEdward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
, Clough Williams-EllisClough Williams-EllisSir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was an English-born Welsh architect known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.-Origins, education and early career:... - Shepherd's Country: a Record of the Crafts and People of the Hills (1938)
- Country Relics (1939)
- A Countryman's Journal (1939)
- The English Countryside (1939) editor, with Adrian BellAdrian BellAdrian Bell was an English journalist and farmer, who was the first compiler of The Times crossword.-Life:The son of a newspaper editor, he was born in London and educated at Uppingham School in Rutland...
, Harry Batsford, H. E. BatesH. E. BatesHerbert Ernest Bates, CBE , better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.-Early life:...
. Batsford, Harry; Fry, Charles; Clark, Geoffrey; Warren, C. Henry; Bozman, E. F.; Bell, Adrian; Fairfax- Blakeborough, J) - The Sweet Of The Year; March–April, May–June (1939)
- Chiltern Country (1940)
- Cotswold Country (1941)
- Remembrance (1941) autobiography
- The Fall of the Year (1941)
- England and the Farmer a symposium (1941) editor, Viscount Lymington, Sir Albert Howard, C. Henry Warren, Adrian BellAdrian BellAdrian Bell was an English journalist and farmer, who was the first compiler of The Times crossword.-Life:The son of a newspaper editor, he was born in London and educated at Uppingham School in Rutland...
, Rolf GardinerRolf GardinerHenry Rolf Gardiner was an English rural revivalist and sympathizer with Nazism. He was founder of groups significant in the British history of organic farming, as well being a participant in inter-war far right politics.-Early life:...
, L. J. Picton and Sir George StapledonGeorge StapledonSir Reginald George Stapledon FRS was an English grassland scientist and pioneer environmentalist.-Early life:...
. - Field Fellowship (1942)
- The English Countryman: a Study of the English Tradition (1942)
- Men of Earth (1943)
- Tree of Life (1943)
- This Plot of Earth: A Gardener's Chronicle (1944)
- The Wisdom of the Fields (1945)
- Where Man Belongs: Rural Influence On Literature (1946)
- The Natural Order - Essays in the Return to Husbandry (1946) ( editor, with Philip MairetPhilip MairetPhilip Mairet was a designer, writer and journalist. He had a wide range of interest: crafts, Alfred Adler and psychiatry, and Social Credit. He was also a translator of major figures including Sartre. He wrote biographies of Sir Patrick Geddes and A. R...
, Lord Northbourne, the Earl of PortsmouthGerard Wallop, 9th Earl of PortsmouthGerard Vernon Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth , styled Viscount Lymington from 1925 until 1943, was a British landowner, writer on agricultural topics, and politician.-Early life:...
(Illustrated by Thomas HennellThomas Hennell-Early Biography:Hennell was born in Ridley, Kent in 1903. He studied at Regent Street Polytechnic and qualified as a teacher. He suffered a nervous breakdown from 1932-1935 and was detained at the Maudsley Hospital...
) - The Countryside and How to Enjoy it
- The Small Farmer A Survey By Various Hands (1947) editor
- An Englishman's Year (1948)
- The Curious Traveller (1950)
- The Faith of a Fieldsman (1951)
- Shakespeare Country, The, Including the Peak and the Cotswolds (1951)
- The Southern Marches (1952)
- Prophesy Of Famine: a Warning and the Remedy (1953) with Edward HyamsEdward HyamsEdward Hyams was a British writer. Works included Soil and Civilisation, a biography of Proudhon, and Terrorists and Terrorism.He won a prize for his translation of Joan of Arc By Herself and Her Witnesses.- External links :*...
- The Essential Gilbert White of Selborne (1983) editor, selected by Mark Daniel
- Fifteen Poems (Hayloft Press 1987)
- A Mirror of England: an anthology of the Writings of H. J. Massingham (1882–1952) edited by Edward Abelson (1988)
Family
He was the son of the journalist H. W. Massingham, and brother of the journalist and writer Hugh Massingham, of Dr. Richard MassinghamRichard Massingham
Richard Massingham was a British actor who is principally noted for starring in public information films made in the 1940s and early 1950s.-Life:...
the director of public information films and of Dorothy Massingham, playwright and actress. His mother was Emma Jane née Snowdon, daughter of Henry Snowdon of St. Leonards Priory, Norwich.