Beatrice Curtis Brown

Born in 1901, she was the daughter of Albert Curtis Brown, the literary agent who founded the Curtis Brown agency in London. Records of her books show a career that ranged widely: she wrote the much-loved Jonathan Bing and Other Verses in 1936, published biographies including works on Queen Anne and Elizabeth Chudleigh, and later wrote the memoir Southwards from Swiss Cottage.

Her writing for children is especially remembered for its wit, rhythm, and slightly eccentric charm. The survival of Jonathan Bing in libraries and reprints suggests that this playful side of her work found lasting readers beyond its original moment.

She died in 1974. While detailed biographical information is limited in the sources readily available online, the outline that does emerge is of a versatile mid-20th-century author whose work comfortably crossed the boundaries between poetry, life writing, and children's literature.