Brent

ELINOR BRENT-DYER (1894 - 1969)

The famous Chalet school stories (1925-70) were written by Elinor Brent-Dyer, who was born at 52 Winchester Street in South Shields. From 1915 she attended City of Leeds Training College and later taught in a number of Shields schools, including Baring Street and the Boy's High School (Autumn 1917). She was a regular attender at St Jude's, Laygate. A visit to the Austrian Tyrol in 1924 made such an impression on Elinor that she wrote The School at the Chalet (1925) the first in the series that made her famous. The last, Prefects of the Chalet School was published in 1970. The Chalet School is the largest children's series after Biggles.

From 1927-33, Elinor taught in Shields, while writing in the attic bed-sitter at 5 Belgrave Terrace - sometimes producing three books in a single year. Not all of these were about the Chalet School, but two vintage stories, A Princess at the Chalet School and Head Girl of the Chalet School as well as a number of others of note appeared during these years. The School by the River (1930) was dedicated to Edgar Bainton, her distinguished music teacher in Newcastle.

In 1933, Elinor accompanied her mother and step-father in their move to Hereford. She ran a rather unsuccessful school there from 1938-48, where the uniform was the same as that of the Chalet School. She was there, curiously enough, when Catherine Cookson (q.v.) resided in Hereford during World War II, though Tyneside's two most prolific authors never met. Elinor seems to have kept up the connection with her home town by producing a number of serialisations for the Shields Gazette. One of these was called Jean of the Storms and appeared in nine episodes in 1936. It has recently been published in book form. Unlike her other published works, it is set in the North East, near Tynemouth and Cullercoats. The Chalet School books remain hugely popular, regularly selling more than 150,000 a year. In 1994, a centenary plaque was erected at No.3 Westoe Village, South Shields, where the author herself attended school (1906-12).

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
ELINOR BRENT-DYER (1894 - 1969) The famous Chalet school stories (1925-70) were written by Elinor Brent-Dyer, who was born at 52 Winchester Street in South Shields. From 1915 she attended City of Leeds Training College and later taught in a number of Shields schools, including Baring Street and the Boy's High School (Autumn 1917). She was a regular attender at St Jude's, Laygate. A visit to the Austrian Tyrol in 1924 made such an impression on Elinor that she wrote The School at the Chalet (1925) the first in the series that made her famous. The last, Prefects of the Chalet School was published in 1970. The Chalet School is the largest children's series after Biggles. From 1927-33, Elinor taught in Shields, while writing in the attic bed-sitter at 5 Belgrave Terrace - sometimes producing three books in a single year. Not all of these were about the Chalet School, but two vintage stories, A Princess at the Chalet School and Head Girl of the Chalet School as well as a number of others of note appeared during these years. The School by the River (1930) was dedicated to Edgar Bainton, her distinguished music teacher in Newcastle. In 1933, Elinor accompanied her mother and step-father in their move to Hereford. She ran a rather unsuccessful school there from 1938-48, where the uniform was the same as that of the Chalet School. She was there, curiously enough, when Catherine Cookson (q.v.) resided in Hereford during World War II, though Tyneside's two most prolific authors never met. Elinor seems to have kept up the connection with her home town by producing a number of serialisations for the Shields Gazette. One of these was called Jean of the Storms and appeared in nine episodes in 1936. It has recently been published in book form. Unlike her other published works, it is set in the North East, near Tynemouth and Cullercoats. The Chalet School books remain hugely popular, regularly selling more than 150,000 a year. In 1994, a centenary plaque was erected at No.3 Westoe Village, South Shields, where the author herself attended school (1906-12).
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