Wartime bombing raids on a Kingston aircraft factory are part of a new biography about one of Britain’s best-loved children’s authors.

Ursula Moray Williams already had nine of her 68 books under her belt when she married Flight Lieutenant Peter John and in 1937 the couple moved to Claygate.

The newly-weds’ love nest was convenient for husband’s work as a test pilot and engineer at the Hawker aircraft factory in Kingston.

But a raid on the Wellington bomber plant at nearby Brooklands had killed 83 workers in 1940 and in July the Hawker plant was struck prompting Mrs Williams to fear for her family’s life.

The attack prompted the move of a secret design workshop from Kingston to Claremont House at the end of the couple’s road, adding to the risk.

In another incident Peter, a volunteer Air Raid protection warden, found incendiaries had blown a large hole in the garage wall.

But the final straw was the death of Dick Reynell, Hawker’s chief test pilot, killed after volunteering for the RAF during a three week holiday.

Biographer Colin Davison explained: “Ursula was terrified that Peter too would volunteer. His family name was originally Jahn. They came from Germany, and although he had an important role at Hawker, he always felt guilty about keeping his civilian job while his former RAF colleagues were giving their lives.”

With the increasing danger from German bombers she persuaded her husband to move near to a Hurricane factory in Gloucestershire where she began work on The Good Little Christmas Tree.

At the beginning of their marriage, Ursula bought baby clothes and toys on her honeymoon, but suffered two miscarriages.

While awaiting the much-craved baby, she wrote The Adventures of Boss and Dingbatt, based around photos of a koala and a leopard toy taken by Peter.

One of the first children’s books to use photos, the Daily Telegraph said it gave “adorable recognition [to children’s] quick facility for investing any kind of stuffed beastie with life.”

When the couple moved to Claygate, Esher, in 1937, Ursula was already plotting another tale of an animated toy that would become a worldwide bestseller: Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse.

Soon after, she became pregnant with the first of four sons, three of whom survived her when she died in 2006 aged 95.

Through the Magic Door: Ursula Moray Williams, Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse by Colin Davison is published by Northumbria Press, £18.99 hardback.