Cecil Street

Cecil John Charles Street OBE MC (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), better known as John Street, was a major in the British Army and a crime fiction novelist.

Major

Cecil Street

OBE MC
John Street posing in 1930
Born3 May 1884
Gibraltar
Died8 December 1964(1964-12-08) (aged 80)
Eastbourne, East Sussex
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
RankMajor
Commands heldRoyal Garrison Artillery
Battles/warsWorld War I
Irish War of Independence
AwardsMC
OBE
Spouse(s)Hyacinth Maud Kirwan
Eileen Annette Waller
Other workCrime fiction writer

He began his military career as an artillery officer and during World War I, he became a propagandist for MI7.[1] During the Irish War of Independence, he acted as an Information Officer for Dublin Castle alternating between Dublin and London and working closely with the British official Lionel Curtis.[2] He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels written under several pseudonyms, including John Rhode, Miles Burton and Cecil Waye.

Early life, education, and career

Street was born in Gibraltar to General John Alfred Street CB of Woking, and his second wife, Caroline, daughter of Charles Horsfall Bill of Storthes Hall, Yorkshire, head of a landed gentry family.[3][4] Caroline had married comparatively late and her only son was born when she was thirty five. General Street, having retired from the Army at the age of sixty two just after his son's birth, died suddenly. Consequently, Street and his mother went to live with his maternal grandparents at their house in Firlands, Woking, which was "comfortably staffed with seven domestics".[5] Street remained "modestly circumspect" about his privileged background in later life and valued "a man's personal accomplishments over his family heritage".[6]

Street was educated in Wellington College, Berkshire and later in Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1903, before getting transferred to the Special Reserves. Before the First World War, he lived at Summerhill, a regency country mansion outside Lyme Regis (later owned by the Scottish educator A. S. Neill and run as a school, the name being subsequently used for his school at Leiston, Suffolk), where he was a shareholder in, and chief engineer for, the Lyme Regis Electric Light & Power Company.

He later served as a Captain in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was wounded three times in combat and won the Military Cross for his services. As a Major, he headed a branch of British Military Intelligence and later, he acted as an Information Officer at the headquarters of the British administration, based in Dublin Castle.[7]

Marriages

In 1906, Street married Hyacinth Maud Kirwan, daughter of Major John Denis Kirwan of the Royal Artillery. They had a daughter, Verena Hyacinth Iris Street, who spent most of her life living with her grandmother and died in 1932 aged 25. The marriage was unsuccessful, with Maud suffering mental imbalance and getting admitted to a private asylum.[5] They were separated by the late 1930s.

Street later lived with Eileen Annette Waller, granddaughter of the Irish writer John Francis Waller, who belonged to a landed gentry branch of the Waller baronets of Tipperary.[8] They married in 1949, shortly after his first wife's death. They lived "a comfortable life together" living in "attractive older homes" including The Orchards, Laddingford, Kent, and Swanton Novers, Norfolk.[9]

Novelist

John Street wrote three series of novels; one under the name of John Rhode, mostly featuring the mathematics professor Dr. Lancelot Priestley;[10] another under the name of Miles Burton, mostly featuring the retired naval officer Desmond Merrion; and a third under the name of Cecil Waye, featuring the Perrins Investigators.

The Dr. Priestley novels were among the first mysteries after R. Austin Freeman's Dr. Thorndyke books to feature scientific detection of crimes,[10] such as analysing the mud on suspects' shoes. However, the Burton novels were stylistically different as Merrion worked with Inspector Arnold of the Scotland Yard.

Notable crime fiction critic Julian Symons considered Street to be a prominent member of the "Humdrum" school of detective fiction. According to Symons, "Most of them [the "Humdrums"] came late to writing fiction, and few had much talent for it. They had some skill in constructing puzzles, nothing more, and ironically they fulfilled much better than S. S. Van Dine his dictum that the detective story properly belonged in the category of riddles or crossword puzzles. Most of the Humdrums were British, and among the best known of them were Major John Street."[11] The historian Jacques Barzun was more positive towards Street, praising several Rhode books in particular, even though he reviewed only a small proportion of the more than 140 novels written by Street.[12]

In recent years, copies of many Rhode and Burton books have become hard to obtain and are highly sought after by collectors, often commanding "eye-wateringly" high prices.[13]

The only detailed account of Street's life and works was written by the crime fiction historian Curtis Evans in his 2012 book Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery who wrote the book "in part to give a long overdue reappraisal of these purportedly "humdrum" detection writers as accomplished literary artists. Not only did they produce a goodly number of fine fair play puzzles, but their clever tales have more intrinsic interest as social documents and even sometimes as literary novels than they have been credited with having."[14]

Bibliography

Dr. Priestley novels

Featuring Lancelot Priestley, Inspector Hanslet and Inspector Waghorn

Non-series novels
  • A.S.F.: The Story of a Great Conspiracy (1924) (U.S. title The White Menace)
  • The Double Florin (1924)
  • The Alarm (1925)
  • Mademoiselle From Armentieres (1927)
  • Drop to His Death (1939) (U.S. title Fatal Descent; on its first publication in the U.S. the book was promoted as being solely by C J C Street), with "Carter Dickson", a pseudonym of John Dickson Carr
  • Night Exercise (1942) (U.S. title Dead of the Night). Sir Hector Chalgrove, acerbic businessman and Home Guard Colonel, disappears during a World War II night exercise. Major Ledbury (Officer Commanding the Wealdhurst Company, Home Guard) assists police to find the killer and assuage local suspicion of his guilt.

Non-fiction books
  • The Case of Constance Kent

Short stories
  • The Elusive Bullet. Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror - Second Series, Ed. Dorothy L Sayers, 1931 (Dr. Priestley story). Reprinted: Bodies from the Library. Ed. Tony Medawar. HarperCollins, 2018
  • The Vanishing Diamond. The Great Book of Thrillers. Ed. H. Douglas Thomson, 1935 (Dr. Priestley story)
  • The Yellow Sphere. Sunday Dispatch, 3 April 1938. Reprinted: Bodies from the Library 3. Ed. Tony Medawar. HarperCollins, 2020.
  • The Purple Line. Evening Standard, 20 January 1950. Reprinted: Evening Standard Detective Book, 1950 (Inspector Purley story)

Non-fiction articles
  • Constance Kent. The Anatomy of Murder, Bodley Head, 1936
  • Why People Like Detective Stories. The Listener, 2 October 1935
  • Unsolved Mysteries No. 6: Solution to the "Mystery of the Murdered Lieutenant". The Star, 1938

Stage plays
  • Sixpennyworth. Bodies from the Library 2. Ed. Tony Medawar. HarperCollins, 2019. The play features Inspector Jimmy Waghorn and is set in the lounge of The Spotted Dog, a pub in a town whose name is not given, "emphatically so"; the play features a neat method of creating an instant blackout. No performances have been identified

Radio plays
  • Dr. Priestley, BBC Empire Service, talk as part of the series 'Meet the Detective', 1935
  • The Strange Affair at the Old Dutch Mill, play featuring Inspector Jimmy Waghorn, BBC National Programme, 7 October 1938, as part of the series 'What Happened at 8:20?"
  • Death Travels First, two-part play featuring Inspector Jimmy Waghorn, BBC Home Service, 2 and 9 July 1940 as part of a series of plays by members of the Detection Club

Non-fiction radio programmes
  • Thoughts of a Detective Story Writer, BBC National Programme, 7, 14, 21 and 28 September 1935

Desmond Merrion novels

Featuring Desmond Merrion and Inspector Henry Arnold

Non-series novels
  • The Hardway Diamonds Mystery (1930)
  • Murder at the Moorings (1932)

Unfinished material
  • Untitled, 48-page typescript of the opening chapters of an apparently non-series novel, set in the villages of Kildersham and Dreford and concerning a death at a pheasant shoot and a drowning.

"The Perrins" novels

Featuring Christopher and Vivienne Perrin

  • Murder at Monk's Barn (1931)
  • The Figure of Eight (1931)
  • The End of the Chase (1932)
  • The Prime Minister's Pencil (1933)

Novels
  • The Worldly Hope (Eveleigh Nash Company), 1917, a war novel.

Non-fiction books
  • With the Guns (Eveleigh Nash Company), 1916
  • The Making of a Gunner, 1916

Non-fiction books
  • The Administration of Ireland, 1920, 1921 at Internet Archive

Non-fiction books and pamphlets

Translations
  • French Headquarters: 1915-1918 by Jean de Pierrefeu, 1925, translated with notes.
  • Vauban, Builder of Fortresses by Daniel Halvey, 1929, translated with notes.
  • The Life and Voyages of Captain Cook by Maurice Thiery, 1929, translated with notes.

Short fiction
  • The Artillery Signaller. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 December 1917
  • The Artillery Duel. West Australian, 1 January 1918
  • A New Army Battery. Brisbane Courier, 1 January 1918
  • A Quiet Night Watch. Launceston Examiner, 4 January 1918
  • The Duel. Hobart Mercury, 8 January 1918
  • On the Flank of the Battle. Melbourne Leader, 12 January 1918
  • Paying a Morning Call. New Zealand Times, 14 January 1918
  • An Airman's Evening. Oamaru Mail, 18 January 1918
  • Ending a Nuisance. Taranaki Herald, 21 January 1918
  • A Night Alarm. Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners' Advocate, 30 January 1918
  • A Combined Shoot’’. National Advocate, 31 January 1917
  • The Sacrifice. Townsville Daily Bulletin, 18 February 1918
  • Running the Gauntlet. Hobart Daily Post, 22 February 1918
  • The Counter Attack. Taranaki Herald, 26 February 1918
  • Gunner Morson, Signaller. Trench and Camp (Camp Logan Edition), 11 March 1918
  • Ending a Nuisance. Brisbane Evening Telegraph, 11 March 1918
  • Ready for Action, Sir. Launceston Examiner, 12 April 1918
  • An Overhaul. The World's News, 13 April 1918
  • A Quiet Night. Mary Borough Chronicle, 26 April 1918
  • Getting the Wind Up. War Supplement for Week Ending 27 April 1918
  • Stuck in the Mud. Chicago Tribune, 2 June 1918
  • The Musketeers: The Tale of Their Adventures in France. Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners’ Advocate, 4 June 1918
  • Slaves of the Guns. World’s News, 29 June 1918
  • An Unexpected Shoot. The Age, 20 July 1918
  • Under Fire. Feilding Star, 29 July 1918. Reprinted; Taranaki Herald, 1 August 1918
  • The Thick of It. Leeds Mercury, 14 August 191* ‘’The Time of Watching’’. Perth Daily Need, 20 August 1918
  • Not a Blank. Leeds Mercury, 21 August 1918
  • The Watcher. (Washington) Sunday Star, 25 August 1918
  • Guy Fawkes’ Day. Adelaide Journal, 21 September 1918
  • Behind the Front. Hobart Mercury, 28 October 1918
  • Destroying the Tower. Grafton Argus & Clarence River General Advertiser, 4 November 1918

Short stories
  • On the High Seas. Cassell's Magazine, September 1920
  • TITLE UNKNOWN. Lloyd's Story Magazine, September 1922 - Not confirmed
  • The Ship's Doctor. Sea Stories, 5 October 1923

Non-fiction articles

References
  1. "Director 'M.I.7(b)(1)' from April – November 1918" (PDF).
  2. The Administration of Ireland, 1920 Reprint, 2001 by Athol Books. Introduction by Dr. Pat Walsh p5
  3. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, vol. I, Bernard Burke, Harrison, 1879, p. 128
  4. Woolven, Robin (2004). "Street, (Cecil) John Charles [pseuds. John Rhode, Miles Burton, Cecil Waye] (1884–1964), army officer and writer of detective stories". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/70001. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. "The Life and Times of John Street, aka John Rhode, aka Vintage Mystery's Master of Murder Means". 27 January 2022.
  6. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961 Curtis Evans, McFarland, Inc., 2012, p. 53
  7. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961 Curtis Evans, McFarland, Inc., 2012, p. 48
  8. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, vol. 2, Bernard Burke, Harrison, 1879, p. 1676, "Waller of Cully and Finoe" pedigree
  9. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961 Curtis Evans, McFarland, Inc., 2012, pp. 49-50, 53
  10. T. J. Binyon (1989). Murder will out. Oxford University Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0-19-219223-X.
  11. Symons, Julian (1993). Bloody Murder (3rd ed.). p. 118.
  12. Barzun, Jacques; Taylor, Wendell Hertig (1971). A Catalogue of Crime. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-010263-0.
  13. The Secret of High Eldersham, Miles Burton, British Library Crime Classics, 2016 (reprint; originally published 1930), p. 10
  14. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery. Curtis Evans, McFarland, 2012
  15. Hubin, Allen J. (1980). Crime fiction, 1749–1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8240-9219-8.
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