Primrose Cumming facts for kids

Primrose Cumming (1915–2004) was a British author who wrote many popular children's books. She was especially known for her stories about ponies, which often showed how well she understood both people and horses. Her books also had a funny side!

One of her most famous books is Silver Snaffles. In it, there's a pony named Tattles. He's a perfect example of a family pony – sometimes grumpy, sometimes patient. He's taught many children how to ride over the years. On the other hand, Smug, a pony in Silver Eagle Carries On, is quite stubborn. The book says:

“Smug, of course, had no intention of jumping anything, but she held upon the right course until the last second, when she adroitly stepped to one side.”

Primrose Cumming was also great at creating interesting human characters. In her Silver Eagle Riding School series, there's Josephine, a smart but sometimes annoying middle sister. She could be both a challenge and an inspiration to her older sister, Mary. In The Wednesday Pony, Tabby and Martin Mead dream that their pony, Jingo, is a fancy show horse or a racehorse. But they soon realize that Jingo is already the best pony they could ask for.

About Primrose Cumming

Primrose Cumming was born in 1915 on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, England, during the First World War. She was the youngest of three children. A special teacher, called a governess, taught her at home and noticed her talent for writing. Her very first story, about an ant's travels, was printed in a magazine called Nursery World.

Primrose loved writing about the countryside and animals. She once said:

“I found it tremendously exciting writing about the country things I knew, and being paid for it – even if I did collect piles of rejection slips, too!“

Her first book, Doney, was published in 1934. It showed how much she loved ponies. She was so keen on riding that she would secretly ride farmers' horses early in the morning. She wrote Doney about her friend's pony and sold the book. With the money, she bought her own pony, Black Jack. He was a bit too wild for a beginner! Once, when she took him hunting, his bridle broke, and she fell off right in front of everyone. But they eventually became a great team, jumping over everything in their path. To pay for Black Jack's food, Primrose wrote more books about country life, using her own experiences. She had several books published by the time she was 21.

Her books Spider Dog (1935) and Silver Snaffles (published in 1936, when she was 22) were likely some of these early works.

War Work and Later Life

Primrose Cumming continued to write during World War II. She also helped with the war effort. For a year, she worked on a farm. One day, a bomber plane crashed in the same field where she was looking after sheep, but she was safe. Her time on the farm inspired her book Owl's Castle Farm. Later, she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, which was a women's branch of the British Army. She served in a unit that operated anti-aircraft guns. Even between air raids, she found time to write The Great Horses. This book was different from her others because it was a historical story about heavy horses over many centuries, not based on her own direct experiences.

After the war, Primrose had a short job as an assistant matron at a boys' school. It didn't work out well because she understood the boys' point of view more easily than the teachers'. She went back to her family home in East Sussex and decided to focus on writing and gardening. Horses weren't her only interest; she was also very good at arranging flowers. She even showed her flower arrangements at local shows and the famous Chelsea Flower Show.

In her later years, her books were less directly based on her own life. She also wrote for magazines like D. C. Thomson & Co. and contributed short stories to The Pony Club Annual. Primrose stopped writing in the 1960s because she felt she was losing touch with what young people liked. She passed away in 2004.

While most of her books are not printed anymore, Silver Snaffles was republished in 2007 by Fidra Books.

Books by Primrose Cumming

Here is a list of books written by Primrose Cumming:

• Doney – a Borderland Tale of Ponies and Young People (Country Life, 1934, illustrated by Allen W Seaby)
• Spider Dog (Country Life, 1936, illustrated by Barbara Turner)
• Silver Snaffles (Blackie, 1937, illustrated by Stanley Lloyd)
• The Silver Eagle Riding School (A & C Black, 1938, illustrated by Cecil Trew)
• Rachel of Romney (Country Life, 1939, illustrated by Nina Scott-Langley)
• The Wednesday Pony (Blackie, 1939, illustrated by Stanley Lloyd)
• Ben: The Story of A Cart-Horse (Dent, 1939, illustrated with photographs by Harold Burdekin)
• The Chestnut Filly (Blackie, 1940, illustrated by Stanley Lloyd)
• Silver Eagle Carries On (A & C Black, 1940, illustrated by Cecil Trew)
• Owls Castle Farm (A & C Black, 1942, illustrated by Veronica Baker)
• The Great Horses (Dent, 1946, illustrated by Lionel Edwards)
• Trouble At Trimbles (Country Life, 1949, illustrated by Geoffrey Whittam)
• Four Rode Home (Dent, 1951, illustrated by Maurice Tulloch)
• Rivals To Silver Eagle (A & C Black, 1954, illustrated by Eve Gossett)
• No Place For Ponies (Dent, 1954, illustrated by Maurice Tulloch)
• The Deep-Sea Horse (Dent, 1956, illustrated by Mary Shillabeer)
• Flying Horseman (Dent, 1959, illustrated by Sheila Rose)
• The Mystery Trek (Dent, 1964, illustrated by Sheila Rose)
• Foal of the Fjords (Dent, 1966, illustrated by Wendy Marchant)
• Penny and Pegasus (Dent, 1969, illustrated by Mary Gernat)