Mea Allan

Mea Allan (named at birth as Mary Eleanor Allan on 23 June 1909 Bearsden, Scotland – 29 August 1982 Walberswick, Suffolk, England^[1]) was a journalist, who worked for the Glasgow Herald. She was the first female war correspondent accredited by the British military and the first female news editor on Fleet Street, and is thus considered a pioneer in this field. Her novel Change of Heart, written in 1943, is about an alternate history (then future) in which the Allies win World War II, but are threatened by a resurgent Nazism.^[2] In 1967 she was awarded the Leverhulme Research Scholarship to write a work on the botanists William Hooker and Joseph Dalton Hooker.^[3]

Select Bibliography

• Change of Heart (London: George G Harrap and Co, 1943)
• The Tradescants. Their Plants, Gardens and Museum 1570-1662, London 1964.
• The Hookers of Kew 1785-1911 London 1967.^[4]

References

1. Desmond, Ray, ed. (1994). Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturalists : including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers ([Rev. and updated ed.]. ed.). London: Taylor & Francis. p. 10. ISBN 0850668433.
2. "Mea Allan on SF Encyclopedia".
3. Thomas, G.S. (1967). "Orangeries in the National Trust". Quarterly Newsletter (Garden History Society). 4 (Spring 1967): 25–27. Retrieved 28 May 2015 – via JSTOR. (registration required (help)).
4. L., K. (1970). "Review of The Hookers of Kew by Mea Allan". Quarterly Newsletter (Garden History Society). 12 (Spring 1970): 21–23. Retrieved 28 May 2015 – via JSTOR. (registration required (help)).