Rose Fyleman (1877–1957)

Rose Amy Fyleman was the daughter of Jewish parents who had emigrated from Russia and Germany. The family name was originally Feilmann, but she and other family members anglicized the spelling during World War I. Rose was educated at a private school. She began to write songs at an early age, and one of them was published in a local paper when she was nine years old. She attended University College, Nottingham, but failed in the intermediate and was unable to pursue her original goal of becoming a schoolteacher. She decided to study music and singing, and traveled to Paris and Berlin for lessons. She then enrolled in and graduated from the Royal College of Music in London with a diploma as an associate. She returned to Nottingham and taught singing. At age 40, Rose Fyleman sent her verses to Punch magazine and "There are Fairies at the Bottom of Our Garden," her first publication, appeared in May 1917. It was set to music by composer Liza Lehmann. Rose's poetry and tales enjoyed great success and her first collection, Fairies and Chimneys, appeared in 1918 and was reprinted more than 20 times over the next decade. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Rose Fyleman published multiple poetry collections, wrote plays for children, and for two years edited the children's magazine Merry-Go-Round. She also translated books from German, French and Italian. Rose Fyleman became one of the most successful children's writers of her generation and she saw much of her earlier poetry become proverbial.