Yexley, Lionel
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1861-1933) UK naval officer, journalist, editor, politician and author born James Wood, taking the name Yexley by deed poll in 1918; active from about 1890, at first anonymously, then as Yexley. He remains best known for his campaigns to improve conditions among seamen, which proved successful from around 1911 after he persuaded Admiral Sir John Fisher (1841-1920) and Winston Churchill that reforms would improve the efficiency of the service. His Future War tales reflect these views. When the Eagle Flies Seaward (1907) with Patrick Vaux, couched on Battle of Dorking lines, turns not unexpectedly on naval warfare, featuring battles between Britain and Germany, which fend off an Invasion by the latter nation. The World's Awakening (1908; vt When the Great War Came 1909) by Vaux and Yexley writing together as by Navarchus is set further into the Near Future, postulating the outbreak of something like World War One in the 1920s, a war the authors feel will be won or lost at sea. [JC]
Lionel Yexley
born Stratford, Essex [now London]: 9 July 1861
died London: 18 March 1933
works
- When the Eagle Flies Seaward (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1907) with Patrick Vaux [hb/]
- The World's Awakening (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1908) with Patrick Vaux, writing together as by Navarchus [hb/]
- When the Great War Came (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1909) with Patrick Vaux, writing together as by Navarchus [vt of the above: hb/]
links
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