Jeffrey M. Boatfield

Jeffrey Montagu Boatfield was born in Sudbury, Middlesex, on 25 March 1924,  the son of Stanley Edgar Boatfield (1888-1959) and his wife Sophia Clara (nee Graham, 1881-1952). Stanley and Sophia were married in 1920 and had two sons, Jeffrey's elder sibling being Graham Stanley Boatfield (1921-2014).

Educated at Dover College and Wycliffe College, Jeffrey Boatfield obtained a diploma in horticulture from the University of Reading. He wrote extensively about horticulture, contributing to Smallholder, Grower, Commercial Grower, Countryman and the Kentish Express. He also wrote for boys under the pen-name Jeff Jeffries from around 1950, contributing to Boy's Own Paper and the Amalgamated Press; he is known to have anonymously contributed the brief 3-part series "Front Page Fergusson" to The Wizard in 1959 (#1755-1757, 3 Oct—17 Oct 1959).

Boatfield was married to Patricia Nina Igglesden in Folkestone, Kent, in 1957. They lived at Sheather Farm, Lenham Heath, near Maidstone, Kent, until at least 1968; they later moved to
Littleton, near Winchester, Hampshire where Jeffrey died in 2003, aged 79.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels as Jeff Jeffries
Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, illus. R. S. Embleton. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1956; as Remember the Alamo!, London & Glasgow, Childrens' Press, 1962.
The Fighting Marshal: The Story of Wyatt Earp. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1958; as The Story of Wyatt Earp, London, Collins Clear-Type Press, 1960.
Seventh Cavalry. London & Glasgow, Collins, 1959.
Beyond the Shining Mountains, illus. P. J. Gillespie. London, Hutchinson, 1960.
Bushwhacked. New York, Belmont Tower, Dec 1967.

Non-fiction as Jeffrey M. Boatfield
Soft Fruit. Modern methods of commercial growing and marketing for processing. London, Pearson, 1961.