Margaret Biggs
Encyclopedia
Margaret Biggs is a popular and collectible exponent of the girls' School story
. She is best known for her Melling
School series of books, first published by Blackie in the 1950s. The series is set at a weekly boarding school and is unusual in that it shows boarding school life and home life side by side. The interaction between girls and boys is also atypical of the genre at that time. The Melling series was republished by Girls Gone By Publishers
in the 2000s and the reprints whilst retaining the original text and artwork have new introductions by Margaret Biggs, who is ‘taking great pleasure in the republication of her books’. Ms Biggs has also written a new volume in the series,Kate at Melling, set twelve years after the earlier books, which was published by Girls Gone By Publishers
in March 2008.
in Barnet
. After leaving school in 1946, Ms Biggs obtained employment in the editorial department of Evans Brothers
publishers where she met Jacqueline Blairman with whom she co-wrote her first school story. Prior to that her published writing had consisted of short stories and magazine articles.
Margaret Biggs married David Cadney in 1953. They have three children.
Other titles
Short stories
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School story
The school story is a fiction genre centering on older pre-adolescent and adolescent school life, at its most popular in the first half of the twentieth century. While examples do exist in other countries, it is most commonly set in English boarding schools and mostly written in girls and boys sub...
. She is best known for her Melling
Melling
Melling, is the name of several places in England;one in New Zealand and one in Styria, Austria. The name was once used on a locomotive. Melling originates from the Anglo-Saxon roots for "The homestead of Maella", , first settled in Lancashire, England by Maella's family in the 6th century...
School series of books, first published by Blackie in the 1950s. The series is set at a weekly boarding school and is unusual in that it shows boarding school life and home life side by side. The interaction between girls and boys is also atypical of the genre at that time. The Melling series was republished by Girls Gone By Publishers
Girls Gone By Publishers
Girls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
in the 2000s and the reprints whilst retaining the original text and artwork have new introductions by Margaret Biggs, who is ‘taking great pleasure in the republication of her books’. Ms Biggs has also written a new volume in the series,Kate at Melling, set twelve years after the earlier books, which was published by Girls Gone By Publishers
Girls Gone By Publishers
Girls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
in March 2008.
Biography
Margaret Biggs moved to Hertfordshire in 1935 where she was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SchoolQueen Elizabeth's School for Girls
Queen Elizabeth's School for Girls, or Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School is a state comprehensive girls' school for ages 11 through 18, in Barnet, London, England.-Admissions:...
in Barnet
Barnet
High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...
. After leaving school in 1946, Ms Biggs obtained employment in the editorial department of Evans Brothers
Evans Brothers (publisher)
Evans Brothers is a British publishing house that is part of the Evans Publishing Group UK. The company was founded by brothers Robert and Edward Evans in 1903.-The beginning:...
publishers where she met Jacqueline Blairman with whom she co-wrote her first school story. Prior to that her published writing had consisted of short stories and magazine articles.
Margaret Biggs married David Cadney in 1953. They have three children.
Works
Melling series- The Blakes Come to Melling, Blackie, 1951. ISBN B0000CI0SM
- Republ. by Girls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
, 2004. ISBN 1-904417-38-8
- Republ. by Girls Gone By Publishers
- The New Prefect at Melling, Blackie, 1952. ISBN B0000CI7ZY
- Republ. by Girls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
, 2004. ISBN 1-904417-51-5
- Republ. by Girls Gone By Publishers
- Last Term for Helen, Blackie, 1953. ISBN B0000CIKD0
- Republ. by Girls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
, 2005. ISBN 1-904417-64-7
- Republ. by Girls Gone By Publishers
- The Head Girl at Melling, Blackie, 1954. ISBN B0000CIT5P
- Republ. by Girls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
, 2005. ISBN 1-904417-77-9
- Republ. by Girls Gone By Publishers
- Susan in the Sixth, Blackie, 1955. ISBN B0000CJ83R
- The New Girl at Melling, Blackie, 1956.
- Summer term at Melling, Blackie, 1957. ISBN B0000CJRRL
- Stories of Melling School, Blackie, 1960. ISBN B0000CKLK2 (Containing: The Blakes come to Melling, The New Prefect at Melling, and, Last Term for Helen)
- More stories of Melling School, Blackie, 1961. ISBN B0000CKXIN (Containing: The Head Girl at Melling, Susan in the Sixth, and, Summer Term at Melling)
- Kate at Melling, GGBP, 2008
- Changes at Melling, Girls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By PublishersGirls Gone By Publishers is a publishing company run by Clarissa Cridland and Ann Mackie-Hunter and is based in Bath, Somerset. They re-publish new editions of some of the most popular girls' fiction titles from the twentieth century.-Elinor Brent-Dyer:...
, 2009
Other titles
- Triplets at Royders (with Jacqueline Blairman), Sampson Low, 1950?
- Christmas term at Vernley, Blackie, 1951
- Bobby at Hill House, Warne, 1954
- Dilly goes to Ambergate, Blackie, 1955
- The Two Families, Blackie, 1958
Short stories
- "Mary's New Friend" in A Book of Girls' Stories, Golden Pleasure Books, 1964
- Lucinda's Long Afternoon and Pip and the Famous Author in Girls' Choice: A New Book of Stories, Hamlyn, 1965
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See also
- The Chalet SchoolChalet SchoolThe Chalet School is a series of approximately sixty school story novels by Elinor Brent-Dyer, initially published between 1925 and 1970. The school was initially located in Austria, moved to Guernsey in 1939, following the rise to power of the Nazi Party, then to "Plas Howell", a house on the...
series of books written by Elinor Brent-DyerElinor Brent-DyerElinor M. Brent-Dyer was a children’s author who wrote over 100 books during her lifetime, the most famous being the Chalet School series.-Short Biography :...
. - The genre author Angela BrazilAngela BrazilAngela Brazil was one of the first British writers of "modern schoolgirls' stories", written from the characters' point of view and intended primarily as entertainment rather than moral instruction. In the first half of the twentieth century she published nearly 50 books of girls' fiction, the...