Ottwell Binns

Ottwell Binns (11 February 1872 – 27 November 1935) was a British novelist and Unitarian minister. He wrote mostly genre fiction, adventures, mysteries, and at least one science fiction novel, Dan Yeo; Or, The Island of the Lost (1929).

Early life

Binns was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, the son of Thomas Binns. He trained for the ministry at Western College, in Plymouth. He was a Congregational minister in Portland, then a Unitarian minister in Scarborough, Ainsworth, Mansfield, and Torquay. He was a Freemason and served on the library committee in Mansfield.

Career

Binns was a prolific author, publishing many novels of adventure and mystery, from 1917 to 1939. His publisher in Britain was Ward Lock. Binns also published novels with Ward Lock under the pseudonym of Ben Bolt; these were similar in subject matter and treatment to the novels published under his own name. His stories were set in many locations, including Britain and the European continent, Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, the Caribbean and Canada, particularly the Yukon. His novels always feature a courageous, resourceful hero and a love interest, and there is an emphasis on action and narrow escapes from danger. His novel A Mating in the Wild was published in the U.S. in 1920 by Alfred A. Knopf and the A. L. Burt Company.

Personal life and legacy

Binns married and was the father of three sons and a daughter. He died in 1935, at the age of 63, in a Penzance hospital. Ward Lock continued to publish novels under his name until 1939. His son Max Dalman Binns was also a mystery writer, under the name Max Dalman. Another son, Bernard Ottwell Binns, was Commission of Settlements and Land Records in Burma, and received the OBE in 1941.