Joyce Reason
Encyclopedia
Joyce Reason was a British author of missionary biographies and historical fiction for young readers.
, London. Her father, Will Reason, was a Congregational minister who campaigned and wrote around themes of social justice and poverty (books such as Poverty, Drink and the Community, Homes and Housing, Christianity and Social Renewal). Both her parents were university graduates.
She was educated at Milton Mount College For Girls in Gravesend
, an educational institution for the daughters of congregational ministers, although other pupils could attend.
She was a prolific author of popular missionary biographies and accounts of the work of the London Missionary Society
. She also wrote fiction and plays for young people.
Reason wrote missionary biographies of Mary Aldersey
of China, James Chalmers
of Papua, Albert Cook
of Uganda, William Kendall Gale
of Madagascar, Wilfred Grenfell
of Labrador, James Hannington
of Uganda, Griffith John
of China, David Jones
of Madagascar, Liang Fa
of China, Henry Nott
of the South Seas, Ruatoka
of Papua, Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand, Howard Somervell
of India, and others. She also wrote popular biographies of John Bunyan
, Robert Browne, Henry Barrowe
, William Penn
, Isobel Kuhn and Sadhu Sundar Singh
of India.
In September 1951, Joyce Reason joined the headquarters staff of the Leprosy Mission
as Editorial Secretary for a five-year term. She visited Uganda
and Tanganyika
to write an account of the Mission's work in East Africa, and also visited the Church of Scotland
's leprosy
settlement at Chogoria
in Kenya
.
Joyce Reason was a noted advocate of Christian books and in 1950 was a featured speaker at the Christianity in Books Exhibition at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, together with the Dean
of St Paul's Cathedral
. She believed there was empirical evidence for the existence of the human soul. In response to a letter by a Professor Crew about life-termination by the individual, she suggested that the professor had not investigated evidence from ESP and psychology
for regarding our lives as a part of something "much larger and more enduring".
She was a keen hiker and her article 'A Lone Woman's Hike from Glastonbury to Winchester' appeared in the first issue of the Hiker and Camper (February 1931). She was considered an authority on the Kibbo Kift
movement.
Joyce Reason was noted as an author of historical fiction for young people. Reviewers praised her books for their well-researched historical backgrounds, strong stories and colourful personalities. Her novel The Mad Miller of Wareham is set in King John's
time in Dorset
and concerns a plot to put Arthur of Brittany
on the throne. The towns, villages, abbeys and priories of Dorset
, where the tale is set, are creditably brought to light and more than one of the characters is drawn in the round and exists as a person. The novel To Capture the King, concerns a Jacobite
plot and smuggling on the Sussex
coast, with incidental glimpses of Samuel Johnson
and Horace Walpole.The texture of history is less closely woven in this but the story is exciting.
Bran the Bronze-Smith is a story set in the Bronze Age
in the British Isles
. Swords of Iron is set in Pre-Roman Britain. The Secret Fortress deals in traditional style with the last age of Viking
rule in Cumberland
. The Queen's Champions is a story of a plot against Queen Elizabeth I and how a young boy plays an important part in averting disaster. Red Pennons Flying is a tale set during the Hundred Years' War.
She also wrote Dwifa's Curse: A Tale of the Stone Age under the nom-de-plume "Blue Wolf". It is set in in Stone Age Britain, just at the time the earlier Neolithic
people are coming into contact with later Stone Age people armed with the bow and more advanced in civilisation.
She produced a number of works for the Sunday School "rewards" market which are still occasionally reprinted. The copyrights of these and many of her other works are now held by Lutterworth Press
.
For the last 20 years of her life at least, Joyce Reason, a Congregationalist by denomination, lived at 102 Addison Rd, Guildford
. She was not married and for much of her life lived with her younger sister, the chemist and teacher Hazel Alden Reason
, who was also unmarried.
A number of her books have been translated into French, German and Swedish.
Life and Works
Joyce Reason was born in Canning TownCanning Town
Canning Town is an area of east London, England. It is part of the London Borough of Newham and is situated in the area of the former London docks on the north side of the River Thames. It is the location of Rathbone Market...
, London. Her father, Will Reason, was a Congregational minister who campaigned and wrote around themes of social justice and poverty (books such as Poverty, Drink and the Community, Homes and Housing, Christianity and Social Renewal). Both her parents were university graduates.
She was educated at Milton Mount College For Girls in Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
, an educational institution for the daughters of congregational ministers, although other pupils could attend.
She was a prolific author of popular missionary biographies and accounts of the work of the London Missionary Society
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
. She also wrote fiction and plays for young people.
Reason wrote missionary biographies of Mary Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏 , the first Christian missionary woman to serve in China. She founded a school for girls in Ningbo, Zhejiang. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy...
of China, James Chalmers
James Chalmers (missionary)
James Chalmers was a Scottish-born missionary, active in New Guinea.-Early life:James Chalmers was born in a small town called Ardrishaig, Argyleshire, Scotland, the only son of an Aberdonian stonemason. The family moved to Inverary when James was seven. There he went to the local school, and then...
of Papua, Albert Cook
Albert Ruskin Cook
Sir Albert Ruskin Cook, CMG, OBE, MD was a British born medical missionary in Uganda, and founder of Mulago Hospital and Mengo Hospital. Together with his wife, Katharine Cook , he established a maternity training school in Uganda....
of Uganda, William Kendall Gale
William Kendall Gale
William Kendall Gale was a pioneering English Methodist missionary in northern Madagascar between 1908 and his death in 1935.- Life and work :...
of Madagascar, Wilfred Grenfell
Wilfred Grenfell
Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, KCMG was a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador.He was born at Parkgate, Wirral, England, the son of Algernon Grenfell, headmaster of Mostyn House School, and Jane Georgiana Hutchison and married Anne Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan of Chicago, Illinois, in...
of Labrador, James Hannington
James Hannington
James Hannington was an Anglican missionary, saint and martyr.-Life:Hannington was born at Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, England, on 3 September 1847. A poor scholar, he left school at fifteen to work in his father's Brighton counting house. At twenty-one, Hannington decided to pursue a clerical...
of Uganda, Griffith John
Griffith John
Griffith John was a British Christian missionary and translator in China. A member of the Congregational church, he was a pioneer evangelist with the London Missionary Society , a writer and a translator of the Holy Bible into the Chinese language.-Biography:Griffith John was born on 14 December...
of China, David Jones
David Jones (missionary)
David Jones was a pioneering Welsh Christian missionary to Madagascar. A gifted linguist, he was noted for establishing the orthography of the Malagasy language and for his translation of the Bible into Malagasy, a work that he undertook with fellow missionary David Griffiths.- Life and work...
of Madagascar, Liang Fa
Liang Fa
Liang Fa was the first Chinese Protestant minister and evangelist. He was ordained by Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China....
of China, Henry Nott
Henry Nott
Henry Nott was a British Protestant Christian missionary to Tahiti, Society Islands, Polynesia.-Life:He was one of the first missionaries sent out by the London Missionary Society, arriving in Tahiti aboard the mission ship “Duff” in 1797. He had been a bricklayer by trade and the mission did not...
of the South Seas, Ruatoka
Ruatoka
Ruatoka was a Protestant Christian msssionary in British New Guinea . The son of Christian converts, he was born in Tamarua, Mangaia Island, Cook Islands and about 1868 attended Takamoa Theological College, Rarotonga, then under James Chalmers...
of Papua, Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand, Howard Somervell
Howard Somervell
Theodore Howard Somervell OBE was a British surgeon, mountaineer and missionary who was a member of two expeditions to Mount Everest in the 1920s, and then spent nearly 40 years working as a doctor in India.-Early life:...
of India, and others. She also wrote popular biographies of John Bunyan
John Bunyan
John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...
, Robert Browne, Henry Barrowe
Henry Barrowe
Henry Barrowe was an English Puritan and Separatist, executed for his views.-Life:He was born about 1550, in Norfolk, of a family related by marriage to Nicholas Bacon, and probably to John Aylmer, Bishop of London. He matriculated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in November 1566, and graduated B.A. in...
, William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, Isobel Kuhn and Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh
Sadhu Sundar Singh was an Indian Christian missionary. He is believed to have died in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1929.-Early years:...
of India.
In September 1951, Joyce Reason joined the headquarters staff of the Leprosy Mission
The Leprosy Mission
is an international Christian charity working towards the eradication of the causes and consequences of leprosy. It is active in over 50 countries around the world....
as Editorial Secretary for a five-year term. She visited Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
to write an account of the Mission's work in East Africa, and also visited the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
's leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
settlement at Chogoria
Chogoria
Chogoria is a town located in Mwimbi Division of Meru South District in the Eastern Province of Kenya. It is located roughly 140 Miles from Nairobi. It is connected to the rest of the country by the all-weather, tarmacked Meru-Embu road. The closest town to Chogoria is Chuka, the District...
in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Joyce Reason was a noted advocate of Christian books and in 1950 was a featured speaker at the Christianity in Books Exhibition at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, together with the Dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
. She believed there was empirical evidence for the existence of the human soul. In response to a letter by a Professor Crew about life-termination by the individual, she suggested that the professor had not investigated evidence from ESP and psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
for regarding our lives as a part of something "much larger and more enduring".
She was a keen hiker and her article 'A Lone Woman's Hike from Glastonbury to Winchester' appeared in the first issue of the Hiker and Camper (February 1931). She was considered an authority on the Kibbo Kift
Kibbo Kift
The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift was a youth organisation in England from 1920 to 1951.-Origins:The organisation was founded by the charismatic Englishman John Hargrave , artist, author and Boy Scout Commissioner for Woodcraft and Camping, who had become disenchanted with the increasingly militaristic...
movement.
Joyce Reason was noted as an author of historical fiction for young people. Reviewers praised her books for their well-researched historical backgrounds, strong stories and colourful personalities. Her novel The Mad Miller of Wareham is set in King John's
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
time in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
and concerns a plot to put Arthur of Brittany
Arthur I, Duke of Brittany
Arthur I was Duke of Brittany between 1194 and 1202. He was the posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Constance, Duchess of Brittany...
on the throne. The towns, villages, abbeys and priories of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, where the tale is set, are creditably brought to light and more than one of the characters is drawn in the round and exists as a person. The novel To Capture the King, concerns a Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
plot and smuggling on the Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
coast, with incidental glimpses of Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
and Horace Walpole.The texture of history is less closely woven in this but the story is exciting.
Bran the Bronze-Smith is a story set in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. Swords of Iron is set in Pre-Roman Britain. The Secret Fortress deals in traditional style with the last age of Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
rule in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
. The Queen's Champions is a story of a plot against Queen Elizabeth I and how a young boy plays an important part in averting disaster. Red Pennons Flying is a tale set during the Hundred Years' War.
She also wrote Dwifa's Curse: A Tale of the Stone Age under the nom-de-plume "Blue Wolf". It is set in in Stone Age Britain, just at the time the earlier Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
people are coming into contact with later Stone Age people armed with the bow and more advanced in civilisation.
She produced a number of works for the Sunday School "rewards" market which are still occasionally reprinted. The copyrights of these and many of her other works are now held by Lutterworth Press
Lutterworth Press
The Lutterworth Press is one of the oldest independent British publishing houses. It has been trading since the late eighteenth century initially as the Religious Tract Society...
.
For the last 20 years of her life at least, Joyce Reason, a Congregationalist by denomination, lived at 102 Addison Rd, Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. She was not married and for much of her life lived with her younger sister, the chemist and teacher Hazel Alden Reason
Hazel Alden Reason
Hazel Alden Reason was a British woman chemist who became a school teacher and authored a popular book on the history of science.- Life and Works :Hazel Reason was born in Friern Barnet, London...
, who was also unmarried.
A number of her books have been translated into French, German and Swedish.
Selected Juvenile Fiction
- Bran the Bronze-Smith. Illustrated by the author. (1930, repr.1939,1961)
- Prentices and Clubs! A Tudor Tale. (1947)
- The Secret Fortress. (1949)
- Swords of Iron. (1956)
- The Mad Miller of Wareham. Illustrated by S. Van AbbéSalomon van AbbéSalomon van Abbé , also known as Jack van Abbé or Jack Abbey, was an artist, etcher and illustrator of books and magazines....
. (1949, repr.1954)
- The Queen's Champions. Illustrated by Trevor StubleyTrevor StubleyTrevor Stubley RP RBA RSW RWS was a Yorkshire portrait and landscape painter, and illustrator....
. (1966)
- To Capture the King: The Story of a Jacobite Plot. (1956)