Langford Reed (11 November 1878 – 8 March 1954) was a British author, writer and collector of limericks, scriptwriter, director and actor of the silent film era.

Biography Reed was born in Clapham in London in 1878 as Herbert Langford Reed, the son of Emma Mary née Williams and John Herbert Reed, a manufacturer of hosiery.1881 England Census for Herbert Langford Reed: London, Clapham - Ancestry.com 'Bertie' Reed1891 England Census for Bertie Reed: London, Clapham - Ancestry.com was educated in Clapham and at Hove College. In 1911 aged 32 he was a journalist living with his parents with the family home now being a boarding house.1911 England Census for Herbert Langford Reed: London. Wandsworth. Clapham - Ancestry.com He married the theatre and film costume designer Henrietta 'Hetty' Elizabeth Spiers (1881-1973) at Lambeth in London in 1912.Herbert L Reed in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 - Ancestry.com Their daughter, the actress Joan Mary Langford Reed (1917-1997) made her screen début aged 2 years in The Heart of a Rose (1919), written by her father. She went on to appear in Testimony (1920), The Wonderful Wooing (1925) and The Luck of the Navy (1927). She was the first winner of the ‘Navana Juvenile Beauty Competition’ in 1922 and in 1923 featured in the Glaxo Baby Food advertising campaign.Hetty Spiers/Ella Langford Reed - Women and Silent British Cinema

During World War I Langford Reed served as a private in the Middlesex Regiment with the British Army in France.British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920: Redstone, William H - Reed, James W - Ancestry.com He was a prolific scriptwriter for silent film and was the author of a number of books of 'clean' or 'laundered' limericks which he collected or wroteWim Tigges (ed), Explorations in the Field of Nonsense, Rodopi Amsterdam (1987) - Google Books 117 and various of which were illustrated by H. M. Bateman among others, including The Complete Limerick Book (1924); The Indiscreet Limerick Book (1925); Nonsense Verses - An Anthology (editor, c1925); Daphne Goes Down (1925), written with his wife; Further Nonsense: Verse and Prose by Lewis Carroll (editor, 1926); Nonsense Tales for the Young (1927); Who's Who in Filmland (1928 and 1931) with Hetty Spiers; The Life of Lewis Carroll (1932); Limericks for the Beach, Bathroom and Boudoir (1933); Mr Punch's Limerick Book (editor, 1934); The Limerick Calendar (1935); Sausages & Sundials: A Book of Nonsense Ballads (c1935); The Complete Rhyming Dictionary (1936); My Limerick Book (1937); Another Limerick Calendar (c1939); with his wife Hetty Spiers he wrote The Mantle of Methuselah: A Farcical Novel (1939); and The Writer's Rhyming Dictionary (1961).Langford Reed - Library of Congress

A prolific film writer and director, he was known for The Tempest (1908); wrote the intertitles for and edited Chase Me Charlie (1918), a seven-reel montage of Charlie Chaplin's Essanay films released in Great Britain; The Heart of a Rose (1919); A Lass o' the Looms (1919) and Potter's Clay (1922), the screenplay of which was adapted with his wife in to a novel in 1923.Potter's Clay: A Romance (1923), - Library of Congress Copyright Office: Catalogue of Copyright Entries - Google Books p. 4725 A Freemason, he joined the Authors' Lodge No. 3456 in 1921.England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751-1921 for Herbert Langford Reed: United Grand Lodge of England, 1910-1921, Membership Registers: London M 3163-3404 to London N 3408-3605 - Ancestry.com

In his later years he lived at 59 Carlton Hill in St John's Wood with his wife Henrietta Elizabeth Reed.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Herbert Langford Reed: 1954 - Ancestry.com

He died in Hampstead in London in 1954. In his will he left £110.

Filmography

Actor 1906: Saved by a Lie directed by Percy Stow 1907: A Knight Errant directed by J. H. Martin

Scriptwriter

1906: Saved by a Lie directed by Percy Stow 1907: Disturbing His Rest directed by Percy Stow 1907: A Knight Errant directed by J. H. Martin 1907: The Wreck of the Mary Jane directed by Percy Stow 1907: The Story of a Modern Mother directed by Percy Stow 1907: Adventures of a Bath Chair directed by Percy Stow 1907: An Awkward Situation directed by Percy Stow 1907: The Water Babies directed by Percy Stow 1907: The Pied Piper directed by Percy Stow 1907: That's Not Right: Watch Me! directed by Percy Stow 1907]: An Anxious Day for Mother directed by Percy Stow 1908: The Little Waif and the Captain's Daughter directed by Percy Stow 1908: The Captain's Wives directed by Percy Stow 1908: Three Maiden Ladies and a Bull directed by Percy Stow 1908: Three Suburban Sportsmen and a Hat directed by Percy Stow 1908: Mr. Jones Has a Tile Loose directed by Percy Stow 1908: If Women Were Policemen directed by Percy Stow 1908: The Old Composer and the Prima Donna directed by Percy Stow 1908: Follow Your Leader and the Master Follows Last directed by Percy Stow 1908: The Cavalier's Wife directed by Percy Stow 1908: Robin Hood and His Merry Men directed by Percy Stow 1908: Nancy directed by Percy Stow 1908: Algy's Yachting Party directed by Percy Stow

1908: The Tempest directed by Percy Stow The Puritan Maid and the Royalist Refugee directed by Percy Stow 1908: A Modern Cinderella directed by Percy Stow 1908: When the Man in the Moon Seeks a Wife directed by Percy Stow 1908: The Old Favourite and the Ugly Golliwog directed by Percy Stow 1908: The Martyrdom of Thomas A Becket directed by Percy Stow 1908: Ib and Little Christina directed by Percy Stow 1909: The Love of a Nautch Girl directed by Percy Stow 1909: The Crafty Usurper and the Young King directed by Percy Stow 1909: His Work or His Wife directed by Percy Stow 1909: Hard Times directed by Percy Stow 1914: The Temptation of Joseph directed by Percy Stow 1914: The Rival Anarchists 1914: The Little God 1914: The Catch of the Season 1915: The Angel of the Ward directed by Tom Watts 1918: Chase Me Charlie 1919: The Heart of a Rose directed by Jack Denton 1919: A Lass o' the Looms directed by Jack Denton 1920: The Woman Hater directed by Sidney M. Goldin 1920: The Bird Fancier directed by Sidney M. Goldin 1922: Potter's Clay directed by H. Grenville-Taylor and Douglas Payne 1945 He Snoops to Conquer (contributor)Filmography of Langford Reed - British Film Institute database

Director 1914: The Temptation of Joseph 1914: The Rival Anarchists 1914: The Little God 1914: The Catch of the Season 1914: The Cleansing of a Dirty Dog 1918: Chase Me Charlie

References

External links