Martin Allerdale Grainger

Martin Allerdale Grainger (17 November 1874 – 15 October 1941) was a Canadian journalist, forester and author. In literary circles, he is best known for his 1908 novel Woodsmen of the West, a realist work about the logging industry. He was an influential figure in developing forestry in British Columbia, as primary author of the report that led to the Forestry Act of 1912, and as chief forester, a position he held from 1917 until 1920.

Biography

Grainger was born in London, England, the only child of (Henry) Allerdale Grainger (7 August 1848 – 17 December 1923) and his wife Isabella, née King, who married at Notting Hill on 20 October 1872. In 1876 they emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, where Allerdale would found a newspaper and serve as a member of Parliament. Allerdale and Isabella separated in 1886^[1] and she and Martin returned to England.

As a child in Adelaide he was educated at

on Forestry. In this capacity, he wrote most of the report on which the Forestry Act (1912) was based, leading to the formation of the British Columbia Forestry Service. He served as Deputy Chief Forester and, from 1917 to 1920, as Chief Forester of British Columbia. From 1920, he ran a logging company.

He died in Vancouver in 1941.^[3][4]

Woodsmen of the West

Grainger's only novel, Woodsmen of the West (1908), was written for purely practical reasons. He and his new wife, Mabel Higgs of

.

His only other book is Riding the Skyline, a posthumous collection of writings.

Recognition

• His portrait, in oils by Sir John Longstaff, is held by the Art Gallery of South Australia.^[5]

Bibliography

• Woodsmen of the West (1908)
• Riding the Skyline (1994)

References

External links

• M. Allerdale Grainger BC Folklore Society collection.
• Cambridge Alumni Database, University of Cambridge, extracted 6 May 2010