# Harold Massingham

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{{Short description|English poet (1932–2011)}}
{{For|the British writer on ruralism and poet Harold John Massingham (1888–1952)|H. J. Massingham}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox writer
|name=Harold Massingham
|birth_name=Harold W. Massingham
|birth_date={{birth date|1932|10|25|df=y}}
|birth_place=[Mexborough](/source/Mexborough), [South Yorkshire](/source/South_Yorkshire), England
|death_date={{death date and age|2011|3|13|1932|10|25|df=y}}
|pseudonym=Mass
|occupation=Poet
|nationality=English
|alma_mater=[Victoria University of Manchester](/source/Victoria_University_of_Manchester)
|awards=[Cholmondeley Award](/source/Cholmondeley_Award) (1968)
}}
'''Harold W. Massingham''' (25 October 1932 in [Mexborough](/source/Mexborough) – 13 March 2011) was an English poet.

==Life==
He was the son of H. W. Massingham (a collier from Mexborough). He attended the same Mexborough Grammar School as the [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire) poet and [Poet Laureate](/source/Poet_Laureate) [Ted Hughes](/source/Ted_Hughes) but in a class two years below.
He taught at the [University of Manchester](/source/Victoria_University_of_Manchester); his students included Steven Waling, and [Trevor Griffiths](/source/Trevor_Griffiths).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=k5onAAAAMAAJ&q=Harold+Massingham+manchester Mike Poole & John Wyver, ''Powerplays: Trevor Griffiths in Television,'' 1984, London: BFI Publishing, p. 12]</ref>

Harold Massingham lived in Mexborough through his childhood, and then Manchester from his university days, until moving with his wife Pat to Spain in the 1990s. He published three volumes of poetry in 1965, 1972 and 1992.<ref>[http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/obituaries/Vernon-Scannell.3519869.jp Ian McMillan, ''Vernon Scannell,'' Yorkshire Post, 23 November 2007]</ref>

His work was published in ''The New Yorker,'' and ''Alhambra Poetry Calendar''.

Under the pseudonym ‘Mass’ he set crosswords for national newspapers and magazines for more than 30 years.<ref>Jonathan Crowther (2006) ''A-Z  of Crosswords'', London: Collins {{ISBN|978-0-00-722923-9}}, {{ISBN|0-00-722923-2}}</ref> He also compiled chess puzzles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413025_farewell_to_mass_crossword_king_harold_massingham_dies_aged_78 |title=Farewell to 'Mass': Crossword king Harold Massingham dies, aged 78 {{!}} Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk |website=menmedia.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112174653/http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413025_farewell_to_mass_crossword_king_harold_massingham_dies_aged_78 |archive-date=2012-11-12}} </ref>

==Awards==
* 1968 [Cholmondeley Award](/source/Cholmondeley_Award)s for Poets

==Work==

===Poetry broadsheets===
* ''Doomsday''
* ''The Magician,'' Manchester: Phoenix Pamphlet Poets Press, 1969
* ''Seafarer''
* ''Wanderer''
* ''The Magician's Attic''

===Poetry books===
* {{cite book| title=Black Bull Guarding Apples| place=London| publisher=Longmans| year=1965 }} <ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fa7dCpASgOcC&dq=Harold+Massingham&pg=PA13 Chris Jones, ''Strange likeness: the use of Old English in twentieth-century poetry,'' Oxford University Press, 2006]</ref>
* ''Frost Gods,'' Macmillan, 1972
* ''Sonatas & Dreams'', Littlewood Arc, 1992
* ''Selected Poems'', Calder Valley Poetry, 2021

===Anthology===
* {{cite book| title=An Arthurian Reader | editor=John Matthews | publisher=Aquarian Press | isbn=0-85030-778-3| date=Oct 1988| chapter=The Finding of Merlin |url=http://www.locusmag.com/index/t86.htm#A10837 }}
* {{cite book| chapter=Tree-dream | title=The Poetry Book Society Anthology 1989-90 | publisher=Hutchinson | date=October 1989| isbn=978-0-09-173992-8 }}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/community/obituaries/harold_massingham_1_3197384 ''Harold Massingham Obituary,'' Yorkshire Post, 19 March 2011]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121112174653/http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1413025_farewell_to_mass_crossword_king_harold_massingham_dies_aged_78 Paul Britton, ''Farewell to ‘Mass’: Crossword king Harold Massingham dies, aged 78,'' Manchester Evening News, 23 March 2011]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massingham, Harold}}
Category:1932 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:People from Mexborough
Category:Academics of the University of Manchester
Category:English male poets
Category:20th-century English poets
Category:20th-century English male writers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Harold Massingham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Massingham) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Massingham?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.