Masefield, John Edward 1878-1967
English poet and novelist

Born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, and educated at the King's School, Warwickshire, he joined the merchant navy, then served his apprenticeship on a windjammer. Ill health drove him ashore, and after three years in New York he returned to England to become a writer in 1897, first making his mark as a journalist. His sea poetry includes Salt Water Ballads (1902) and Dauber (1913), and his best-known narrative poem is Reynard the Fox (1919). Other works are The Everlasting Mercy (1911), The Widow in the Bye-Street (1912), Shakespeare (1911) and Gallipoli (1916). He also wrote novels such as Sard Harker (1924), Odtaa (1926) and The Hawbucks (1929), and plays including The Trial of Jesus (1925) and The Coming of Christ (1928). He became Poet Laureate in 1930 and his final work was Grace before Ploughing (1966).

Bibliography: So Long to Learn (1952)