Clarence Winchester

Clarence Arthur Charles Winchester. Born in Notting Hill Gate, London, on 17 March 1895, the son of Arthur William Winchester a grocer's and cheesemonger's assistance in Brighton, Sussex, who had married London-born dressmaker Elizabeth Alice Clark in 1894.

Winchester found work as a local reporter in his native Hove and in his earlier days, was also associated with the stage. He learned to fly in 1913-14, receiving his aviator's certificate on 22 December 1914, and wrote on aeronautics for the Daily Mail. He was a founder member of the original Institute of Aeronautical Engineers and an associate of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

After a period as editor of Ideas under Sir Edward Hulton, he became Assistant Chief Editor of Cassells in 1925 and over the next fifteen years was editorially involved in many magazines, including The Corner Magazine, 1925-35, Cassell’s Magazine of Fiction, 1925-32, The Argosy, 1926-40, The New Magazine, 1927-30, The Story-Teller, 1928-37, The Red Magazine, 1936-39. 

The owners of Cassells also owned the Amalgamated Press, where Winchester became the chief editor of numerous partworks including Railway Wonders of the World in 50 parts (1935-36), Shipping Wonders of the World in 55 parts (1936-37), Wonders of World Engineering in 52 parts (1937-38) and Wonders of World Aviation (1938).  He also produced The King's Navy, The King's Army and The King's Air Force in co-operation with the Admiralty, the War Office and the Air Ministry respectively.

Other editorial duties included The World Film Encyclopedia (1933), England, a quarterly magazine, and The British Legion Poppy Annual. He both edited and designed The Royal Philatelic Collection by Sir John Wilson, Bt., and The Crown Jewels by Major-General H. D. W. Sitwell.

He later became Literary Editor of the Daily Sketch and contributed to many American newspapers and magazines, being the correspondent on European affairs to the Argonaut of San Francisco. He also set up his own publishing house shortly after the war, and was also advisory editorial director of Crosby, Lockwood & Son, Ltd. 

He used the pen-name ‘Ornis’ for articles on flying and occasionally also used the pseudonym C. Tanner-Rutherford.

Winchester was married to Constance Katherine Groves in 1914. He died in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, on 15 March 1981, aged 85.

PUBLICATIONS

NOVELS
The Devil Rides High. London, Cassell & Co., 1933.
Three Men in a Plane. London, Collins, 1941.
City of Lies. London, Collins, 1942.
Hop, Mop and Drop, the Mischievous Mice, illus. Fred Robinson. London, R. Lesley & Co., 1944.

NON-FICTION
Flying Men and Their Machines. A literary and photographic record of facts concerning flying. London, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1916.
Complete Aeronautics, edited by Winchester. London, Standard Art Book Co., 1921.
Aerial Photography. A comprehensive survey of its practice & development, with F. L. Wills; foreword by Sir Alan J. Cobham. London, Chapman & Hall, 1928.
The Wonder Album of Filmland, edited by Winchester. London, Amalgamated Press, 1933.
The World Film Encyclopedia. A universal screen guide, edited by Winchester. London, Amalgamated Press, 1933; New York, Gordon Press, 1976.
An Innocent in Hollywood, illus. Goetz. London, Cassell & Co., 1934.
Let’s Look at London. A travelogue for the short time visitor. London, Cassell & Co., 1935.
Railway Wonders of the World, edited by Winchester; consulting editor Cecil J. Allen. London, Amalgamated Press, 2 vols., 1935-36.
Shipping Wonders of the World, edited by Winchester; consulting editors A. C. Hardy & Frank C. Bowen. London, Amalgamated Press, 2 vols., 1936-37.
The King’s Navy, edited by Winchester; associate editors Vice-Admiral Gordon Campbnell & Frank C. Bowen. London, Amalgamated Press, 1936.
The King’s Air Force, edited by Winchester. London, Amalgamated Press, 1937.
The King’s Army, edited by Winchester. London, Amalgamated Press, 1937.
The Wonders of World Engineering, edited by Winchester; consulting editor Thomas Walley. London, Amalgamated Press, 2 vols., 1937-38.
Wonders of World Aviation, edited by Winchester; consulting editor J. Laurence Pritchard. London, Amalgamated Press, 2 vols., 1938.
The Story of the British Empire. Told with pen and picture, edited by Winchester. London, Amalgamated Press, 1939-
Airman Tomorrow, with Alfred E. Kerr. London & Southend, H. F. Lucas & Co., 1942; revised, London, C. Lockwood & Son, 1943.
The Queen Elizabeth. The world’s greatest ship, edited with P. R. Bird. London, Winchester Publications, 1947.

COLLECTIONS
The Captain Lost His Bathroom. Short stories. London, John Crowther, 1941.
The Black Poppy, and other stories. London, Arandar Books, 1944.

VERSE
Poems of an Air Pilot. London, Wingwood Publishing Co., 1921.
Sonnets, and some others. Tauton, Wessex Press, 1928.
Earthquake in Los Angeles, and other poems. London, Cassell & Co., 1938.
A Great Rushing of Wings, and other poems. Bognor Regis, J. Crowther, 1944.
Signatures of God. Selected poems of truth, beauty and love. Evesham, James, 1977.

OTHERS
Winchester’s Screen Encyclopedia, edited by Maud M. Miller. London, Winchester, 1948.
The Royal Philatelic Collection, by Sir John Wilson, edited by Clarence Winchester. London, The Dropmore Press, 1952.
The Crown Jewels and other Regalia in the Tower of London, by Hervey D. W. Sitwell; edited by Winchester. London, Dropmore Press, 1953.