author
Tom Bevan
1868–1938
Best known for lively boys' adventure stories, this Welsh-born British writer balanced schoolmastering with a remarkably productive career in historical fiction. He also wrote under the name Walter Bamfylde and published children's nonfiction alongside his tales of danger and courage.
1 Audiobook
Sea-dogs all! : a tale of forest and sea
by Tom Bevan
About the author
Born in Risca, Monmouthshire, in 1868, he later moved with his family to Gloucester and was educated at Sir Thomas Rich's School and St Paul's College, Cheltenham. He trained as a teacher and began writing while working as a schoolmaster, drawing on his love of history for many of his stories.
His books were mainly historical adventures for young readers, and he became a prolific author, said to have written more than 70 works. Among his better-known titles are The Thane of the Dean, A Hero in Wolf-Skin, and Sea-Dogs All! He also contributed to magazines including Boy's Own Paper, worked as an education editor for Sampson Low and Marston in the 1920s, and wrote nonfiction books for children as well.
He died in Cheltenham on November 9, 1937. Although not as widely remembered today as some of his contemporaries, his fiction offers a vivid picture of the kind of historical adventure that appealed to young readers in the early twentieth century.