Beryl Irving

Beryl Irene Irving (24 October 1896 - 15 October 1965) was best known as author of the children's book The Dawnchild. She had five children including the controversial English writer David Irving.
Beryl became an artist, most notably as an illustrator for The Nursery World, Farmers Weekly, the East Anglian Times, The Radio Times and elsewhere. She was also a writer and broadcaster for .
Beryl's father was Captain Charles Douglas Godfrey Newington, (late 14th Sikhs). Her mother was Frances Maria Dolman, lately of Southsea.
Beryl had two married sisters, Gladys and Winifred, and two bachelor brothers, Campbell (planter, imprisoned in Malaya) and Malcolm (Colonel, Indian Army, latterly Fishhoek, South Africa).
Beryl was married on November 18, 1921 in Rushbrooke, County Cork to former Lieutenant Commander John James Cawdell Irving, Royal Navy, who had served during the First World War. He subsequently became a writer and broadcaster, writing many books about ships and yachting, including Coronel and the Falklands (1927), The King's Britannia (1937) and The Smoke Screen of Jutland (1966). John Irving died on July 23, 1967 at Bangor, Caernarvonshire.
Beryl and John Irving had four children (John, Jennifer and twins David and Nicholas, born between 1930 and 1938) before they split up.
Today, Beryl Irving is best known for her book The Dawnchild which appeared in 1926, illustrated in a style reminiscent of the Scottish illustrator of children's books, Jessie Marion King and described as "weird and wonderful" by children's books author, Vivian French.
Three different styles of work can be detected in Beryl Irving's body of work. Some of her work has been described as "executed rather in the manner of A. K. MacDonald". More frequently her illustrations are likened to those of Jessie M. King, while others have described her animal drawings as similar to those of the Victorian artist Ernest Griset.
Publications
Children's books
*The Dawnchild London, Faber & Gwyer, 1926.
*Daffy Goes to Sea, London, Nisbet & Co., 1932.
Others
*The Family Week-end Book, London, Seeley Service, 1941.
As illustrator
*Rivers of East Anglia by Lt-Commander John Irving. London: London & North Eastern Railway, n.d.
*The Yachtsman's Week-End Book by John Irving & Douglas Service. London, Seeley Service & Co., 1938.
*The Gardener's Week-End Book by Eleanour Rohde & Eric Parker. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1939.
*The Shooting Week-End Book by Eric Parker. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1942.
*The Countryman's Week-end Book by Eric Parker. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1946.
*Royal Navalese: a glossary of forecastle and quarterdeck words and phrases by Commander John Irving. London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1946.
*The Gourmet's Week-End Book by André L. Simon. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1952.
*Cheerful Cookery by Noel Chanter. London & Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1954.
*The Collector's Week-End Book by Frank Davis. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1956.
*The Cat-Lover's Week-end Book by Kathleen Williams & Sidney Denham. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1961 .
*Under a Suffolk Sky by Allan Jobson. London: Robert Hale, 1964.
*A Suffolk Calendar by Allan Jobson. London: Robert Hale, 1966.

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