Strang, Herbert
Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Author.
Collaborative pseudonym of UK editors and authors George Herbert Ely (1866-1958) and C J L'Estrange (1867-1947), who worked as Co-Editors in the Juvenile Department of Oxford University Press 1907-1939, publishing most of their later books through iterations of that firm; apparently Ely plotted the tales and L'Estrange wrote them down. The name was used on a large number of boys' adventure stories from around the end of the century, among them a series of tales featuring futuristic Transportation devices, including King of the Air, or To Morocco on an Airship (1908), in which a primitive aircraft carrier is used to refuel an advanced Airship; Lord of the Seas: A Story of a Submarine (1908), clearly evocative of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo sequence (see Under the Sea); The Cruise of the Gyro-Car: A Story of Adventure in Albania (1910), Round the World in Seven Days (1910), the trip being made by two young men in a reinforced biplane with an advanced engine (see Inventions), who cross the Atlantic non-stop; and The Flying Boat: A Story of Adventure and Misadventure (1912), which includes some toned-down Imperial Gothic moments inside China, any menaces from the pidgin-spouting natives being anaemic. These were very competently written, with a certain Edwardian dash (see Imperialism), and a fair amount of racist Cliché. World War One put an end to the high-jinks; later tales are mostly meant to boost the spirits of children about to become soldiers.
Strang also published Future-War stories like The Air Scout: A Tale of National Defense (1912), a Near Future Yellow Peril tale (published the same year as The Flying Boat) a more dangerous China mounts an Invasion of Australia and The Air Patrol: A Tale of the North-West Frontier (1913), whose boy hero use planes to thwart similar threats to India from Mongolian invaders. His Lost Race novels include Sultan Jim: Empire Builder (1913), set in Central Africa; The Old Man of the Mountain (1916), set in the Himalayas and featuring an Antihero who uses high Technology tools to maintain his rule; and The Heir of a Hundred Kings (1924), where the lost race is found in Egypt. A Thousand Miles an Hour (1924) returns to the pre-War format, but without the gift of energy. As Mrs Herbert Strang Ely and L'Estrange also wrote tales for girls, including The Girl Crusoes: A Tale of the South Seas (1912), a nonfantastic Robinsonade. [JC/PN]
George Herbert Ely
born London: 1866
died Reading, Berkshire: 7 September 1958
Charles James L'Estrange
born London: 1867
died Tiverton, Devon: 8 January 1947
works
- King of the Air; Or, to Morocco on an Airship (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1908) [illus/hb/W E Webster]
- Lord of the Seas: The Story of a Submarine (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1908) [book is dated 1909: illus/hb/C Fleming Williams]
- Swift and Swift: The Story of a Hydrophone (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1909) [book is dated 1910: illus/hb/J Finnemore]
- The Cruise of the Gyro-Car (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1910) [book is dated 1911: illus/hb/A C Michael]
- Round the World in Seven Days (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1910) [book is dated 1911: illus/hb/A C Michael]
- The Flying Boat: A Story of Adventure and Misadventure (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1912) [illus/hb/T C Dugdale]
- The Air Scout: A Tale of National Defense (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1912) [illus/hb/W R S Scott]
- The Air Patrol: A Tale of the North-West Frontier (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1913) [illus/hb/Cyrus Cuneo]
- Sultan Jim: Empire Builder (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1913) [illus/hb/Cyrus Cuneo]
- The Old Man of the Mountain (London: Hodder and Stoughton/Henry Frowde, 1916) [illus/Rene Bull and Cyrus Cuneo: hb/]
- A Thousand Miles an Hour (London: Oxford University Press/Humphrey Milford, 1924) [illus/Howard K Elcock: hb/D C Eyles]
- The Heir of a Hundred Kings (London: Oxford University Press/Humphrey Milford, 1924) [illus/hb/]
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