Kaye Webb

Kathleen ("Kaye") Webb MBE (26 January 1914 – 16 January 1996), was a British editor and publisher. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.

Kaye Webb in 1972

Early life and education

Kathleen Webb was born in Chiswick, London, in 1914, the second of three children of Arthur Webb, a journalist, and Ann (née Stevens), a film and theatre critic.[1][2][3] Her paternal great-great-grandfather was W.G. (William George) Webb, publisher of toy theatres in the Victorian era.[1][2] Webb was educated first at a dame school, then at Hornsey High School, and then, in 1926, aged twelve, started boarding at Ashburton School, Ashburton, Devon, where her older brother was already a student.[1][2] Webb herself described her time there as "bullied, miserable, had jaundice", but was inspired and encouraged by the teacher of English, Ben R. Gibbs, author of textbooks about literature and history.[1][2] She left the school in 1930, and although Gibbs had suggested that she go on to university, she was sent by her parents to stay with a family in Bruges, Belgium, to be "finished".[2]

Career

Webb had her first job at the age of fifteen, when the Mickey Mouse Weekly paid her 2d per answer to reply to children's letters.[1] In 1931, after her time in Belgium, she found similar employment with Picturegoer, where she was "George the Answerman",[1] and then with motor magazines Caravan World and Sports Car.[1] She joined Picture Post as a secretary in 1938.[1]

Webb was editor of Puffin Books between 1961 and 1979, and in 1967 founded the Puffin Club, which she ran until 1981. As a journalist she worked on publications including Picture Post, Lilliput and the News Chronicle, and later edited the Young Elizabethan. She was editor of Puffin Post from 1967 to 1989.[4]

Personal life
Kaye Webb (centre) with Joan Aiken (left) at Dartington Hall in 1972

Webb was married three times: each of her marriages ended in divorce. Her third marriage (1948–1967) was to Ronald Searle, who was the father of her son and daughter.[4]

Archives

Webb's archive and working library are held in the Seven Stories centre for children's books collection, based in Newcastle upon Tyne.[5]

Notes
  1. Trotman, Felicity (8 January 2015). "Webb [married names Brierley, Hunter, Searle], Kathleen (Kaye)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  2. Grove, Valerie (2010). So Much To Tell. Penguin UK. ISBN 9780670918850. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  3. Cooke, Rachel (16 May 2010). "So Much to Tell by Valerie Grove". The Observer. London, England. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  4. Julia Eccleshare Obituary: Kaye Webb, The Independent, 18 January 1996.
  5. "Kaye Webb Collection". Seven Stories Collection. Retrieved 11 January 2020.

Further reading
  • Valerie Grove (2010), So much to tell. London: Viking. ISBN 978-1-84614-200-0 (Biography)
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