William James Wintle Explained

William James Wintle (1861–1934) was an English journalist and writer.^[1]

Life

Wintle's family was from Gloucestershire. He was educated at the Sir Walter St John's Grammar School For Boys, in Battersea. He then was headmaster of a school for a time.^[1]

By 1896 Wintle was writing for the Windsor Magazine.^[2] He then joined the Harmsworth staff, working for Lord Northcliffe. There he worked on magazines, and the Harmsworth Encyclopaedia, a part-published (=serialized) work. Later he was director of a publishing house.^{[1] [3]} As naturalist, Wintle was known as a shell collector; his collection went to that of Arthur Blok.^[4] He became a fellow of the Zoological Society during 1899. He joined the Malacological Society of London also, during 1916, and was its Secretary during 1919;^[1] he was elected to the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland during 1917.^[5] Interested in Christian religion, Wintle donated to the Anglican church in Chiswick. He spent time on Caldey Island with the Benedictines there.^[1] A British Museum list of those presenting zoology specimens during 1920 includes a Brother W. J. Wintle.^[6] He later became a Roman Catholic convert.^[1]

Works

One of Wintle's pieces of journalism, Life in Our New Century from 1901, was published originally in the Harmsworth Magazine.^[7]

Wintle also composed and published various books:

• Armenia and its Sorrows (1896),^[8] prompted by the Hamidian massacres. A letter of endorsement from W. E. Gladstone to Wintle was used to publicise the book.^[9]
• Paradise Row and Some of its Inhabitants (1897)
• Recreations with a Pocket Lens (1911)^[10]
• Nights with an Old Lag (1911)^[11]
• Pilgrim Songs on the King's Highway (1911) ^[12]
• The Songs of Old England (1912)^[13]
• Ghost Gleams. Tales of the Uncanny (1921).^[14] These are regarded as ghost stories for children, and A Light in the Dormitory has been included in an anthology.^[15]

Wintle wrote for the Sunday School Union, using the pseudonym "John Upton" for a weekly article for the Union's Sunday School Chronicle. With them he published:^[1]

• The Story of Florence Nightingale (1896)
• The Story of Albert the Good (Prince Consort) (1897)^[16]
• Dr. J. L. Phillips ... A Biographical Sketch (1898)^[17] with Mary Phillips; biography of James Liddell Phillips (1840–1895)^[18]
• The Story of Victoria, R.I.: Wife, Mother, Queen (1901)^[19]
• Florence Nightingale and Frances E. Willard: the Story of Their Lives, with Florence Witts, undated^[20]

According to his obituary, Wintle also wrote a Life of Charles Spurgeon.^[1]

Notes and References

1. Obituary, Book: Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. XXI, 1934–5. 149.
2. Web site: The FictionMags Index, Stories, Listed by Author, Wintle to Wire. 20 August 2015.
3. Book: Richard Bourne. Lords of Fleet Street: The Harmsworth Dynasty. 24 July 2015. Routledge. 978-1-317-40388-3. 34.
4. http://nnhc.huji.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/hasiana/Haasiana%206%202012.pdf Haasiana no. 6, April 2012 (PDF)
5. Web site: The Journal of Conchology. 15 August 1917. Internet Archive. 217. 15. 20 August 2015.
6. Web site: Return British Museum, for 1920. 1920. Internet Archive. 125. 20 August 2015.
7. Book: P. D. Smith. Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon. 25 September 2008. Penguin Books Limited. 978-0-14-191032-1. 713.
8. http://www.armenews.com/IMG/armeniaitssorrow00wint.pdf Armenia and its Sorrows, 2nd edition 1896 (PDF)
9. Book: The Bookseller. 1000. 1896. J. Whitaker and Sons, Limited.
10. Book: William James Wintle. Recreations with a Pocket Lens. 1911. London.
11. Book: W. J. Wintle. Nights with an Old Lag. 1911. John Ouseley.
12. Book: Pilgrim Songs on the King's Highway. 1911. James Wintle . W. .
13. Book: The Songs of Old England /selected by W. James Wintle. 1912. Ousely.
14. Book: William James Wintle. Ghost Gleams. Tales of the Uncanny. 1921. London. 9781899562695 .
15. Book: Philippa Pearce. Dread and Delight: A Century of Children's Ghost Stories. registration. 1995. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-212605-4.
16. Book: William James Wintle. The Story of Albert the Good (Prince Consort). 1897. Sunday School Union.
17. Book: Dr. J.L. Phillips ... A Biographical Sketch ... Completed and Edited by W.J. Wintle. 1898. Sunday School Union.
18. Web site: General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine 1794–1950. 135. 1950. 20 August 2015.
19. Book: William James Wintle. The Story of Victoria, R.I.: Wife, Mother, Queen. 1901. Sunday School Union.
20. Book: Lavinia Byrne. Woman At The Altar: The Ordination of Women in the Roman Catholic Church. 1 January 1995. A&C Black. 978-0-264-67335-6. 132.