John S. Margerison

John Strong Margerison is a pseudonym of Joseph Margerison (1887-1925) was born at Little Padfield, Glosop Dale, in Derbyshire and was brought up by his uncle and aunt. In his book In Our Wonderful Navy, Margerison wrote, "The call of the sea is something that vaguely stirs in the veins of every boy worthy of the name as soon as he attains the age of fourteen or thereabouts." which was true in his case as, aged 14, he ran away to sea to join the Royal Navy.

In 1907 he married Beatrice Alice Boyland at Portsea Island and in 1912 whilst serving as an Able Seaman aboard HMS Prince of Wales he was awarded a medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea when his ship went to the aid of the SS Delhi, which was stranded off Cape Spartel, Morocco. 

He was invalided out of Navy and from 1916 he was a prolific writer. His books and stories were well received at the time and his work appeared in The London, Chambers's Journal, War Illustrated, The Royal Magazine and Short Stories and  after the war, was a regular contributor to Chums, The Boys' Realm and other boys' papers. He also worked as an advertising manager, travelling to Bombay, India, in 1920 and he was also editor of the Netherlands Indies Review, the official publication of the British Chamber of Commerce for the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia).

His career was cut short when he died in a motorcycle accident aged only 37.