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Who Was Enid Boyten?

Posted: 11 May 2010, 14:10
by pete9012S
It seems Enid Boyton was an author who chose a name very similar to Enid Blytons and wrote books in a similar if inferior style,but do we know any more about her and if the books were any good?

Regards
Pete

Re: Who Was Enid Boyten?

Posted: 11 May 2010, 16:16
by Kitty
I saw something recently on a mailing list about this - but now I can't find it! :twisted: Anyway, it was along the lines that Enid Boyton was the pen name of an editor at a comic :?: At least I think that's what I read, and I could be wrong - sorry to be so unspecific! I've only seen the name attached to short stories in girls annuals.

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 11 May 2010, 16:20
by Daisy
Read back a few pages under "Journal 41" and you will see more about this author - Enid Boyten - who was a male, I think!

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 11 May 2010, 16:24
by Anita Bensoussane
Yes, Kate Mary explained in the "Journal 41" thread that Enid Boyten
Kate Mary wrote:...was in real life Horace E Boyten and the 'paper' mentioned [in Fred Clampitt's letter] must have been either School Friend or Girls' Crystal. Poor Horace; Boyten really was his name (did the E stand for Enid??!!), he was one of a stable of writers (all men) who wrote for the Amalgamated Press' girls' story papers and annuals, and yes, he did write about a school called St Claire's, but as this was set in war-time France I'm sure no child thought our Enid wrote it.

Maybe, he used the name Enid in a spirit of mischief or perhaps it was his mother's name, who knows?
I think I read somewhere that after hearing from Enid Blyton he agreed to change his pen name to Hilda Boyten!

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 17:31
by patemanray
Hi, I can help here. Horace Eli (not Enid!) Boyton was a distant relative of mine. He was a journalist. Another relative told me he wrote children's' books under the pen name Enid Boyton. Born in Bishops Stortford in 1901, he died in North London in 1986. The second pen name, Hilda Boyton, probably came about because Horace corresponded with my mother's cousin Hilda Boyten in 1982 on family history matters (I have the letters.) You may find the spelling Boyten as well as Boyton. Why Horace used the pen name Enid is a mystery. I suspect it was pure mischief, as there were no Enids that I know of in the family.

Ray

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 17:35
by zaidi
patemanray wrote:Hi, I can help here. Horace Eli (not Enid!) Boyton was a distant relative of mine. He was a journalist. Another relative told me he wrote children's' books under the pen name Enid Boyton. Born in Bishops Stortford in 1901, he died in North London in 1986. The second pen name, Hilda Boyton, probably came about because Horace corresponded with my mother's cousin Hilda Boyten in 1982 on family history matters (I have the letters.) You may find the spelling Boyten as well as Boyton. Why Horace used the pen name Enid is a mystery. I suspect it was pure mischief, as there were no Enids that I know of in the family.

Ray

Great! Wow you're lucky to be a relative of someone who was writer.

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 17:37
by zaidi
I wonder how to pronounce Boyton.

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 17:40
by pete9012S
zaidi wrote:I wonder how to pronounce Boyton.
you would! :wink:

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 17:41
by Tony Summerfield
Those of you who read the last Journal and indeed earlier issues will know a fair bit about this and why he changed his name from Enid to Hilda.

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 17:54
by zaidi
pete9012S wrote:
zaidi wrote:I wonder how to pronounce Boyton.
you would! :wink:
Do we say it like first pronounce Boy and then tan.

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 18:54
by Julie2owlsdene
I would have thought it was ton!

8)

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 20:00
by Fiona1986
Julie2owlsdene wrote:I would have thought it was ton!

8)
Or in my accent Boy-tin :lol:

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 20:02
by Daisy
I guess it's the same way you say the 'ton' in Blyton!

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 20:10
by Anita Bensoussane
patemanray wrote:Horace Eli (not Enid!) Boyton was a distant relative of mine. He was a journalist. Another relative told me he wrote children's' books under the pen name Enid Boyton. Born in Bishops Stortford in 1901, he died in North London in 1986. The second pen name, Hilda Boyton, probably came about because Horace corresponded with my mother's cousin Hilda Boyten in 1982 on family history matters (I have the letters.) You may find the spelling Boyten as well as Boyton. Why Horace used the pen name Enid is a mystery. I suspect it was pure mischief, as there were no Enids that I know of in the family.
Thanks very much for the information, Ray.

Re: Who Was Enid Boyton?

Posted: 31 Dec 2011, 21:21
by patemanray
Hi, Boyten or Boyton is pronounced much as it sounds - boy-t'n.