Harold John Massingham was born in 1888. He was brought up in London and worked in journalism before becoming a research assistant for University College, London, where he developed an interest in archeology and anthropology. He started publishing books in this area in the 1920s and by the 1930s his focus shifted to rural and country life. In 1937 he was involved in a serious accident that led to his leg being amputated and this restricted his ability to travel. He continued to write after his accident and became one of the prominent British ruralist writers of his time. After his death in 1952 a number of his tools and products of his craftsmanship were donated to the Museum of English Rural Life.