Leo Walmsley
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox person Leo Walmsley Template:Post-nominals (born Lionel Walmsley; 29 September 1892 – 8 June 1966)Template:Sfn was an English writer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Walmsley was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, but brought up in Robin Hood's Bay in the North Riding. Noted for his fictional Bramblewick series, based on Robin Hood's Bay, he fought in the Royal Flying Corps, later the Royal Air Force, in the First World War, being awarded the Military Cross.
LifeEdit
He was born Lionel Walmsley,<ref name=rhb>Template:Cite book</ref> at 7 Clifton Place, Shipley in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1892.<ref name="TT">Template:Cite news</ref> Two years later, his family moved to Robin Hood's Bay on the coast of present-day North Yorkshire, where he was schooled at the old Wesleyan chapel and the Scarborough Municipal School.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the son of the painter James Ulric Walmsley (1860–1954) who studied under Stanhope Forbes in Cornwall before settling in Robin Hood's Bay.Template:Sfn
During the First World War he served as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps in East Africa, was mentioned in dispatches four times and was awarded the Military Cross.<ref name="WW">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Who's Who</ref> After a plane crash he was sent home, and after some time teaching at the school in Robin Hood's Bay, eventually pursued a literary career.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After the war he left Robin Hood's Bay to work in London where he met his first wife.<ref name="rhb"/> Following the end of the marriage he returned to live at Robin Hood's Bay then moved to Wales after the outbreak of World War II. Following the end of his second marriage, he moved to the area of Fowey, Cornwall,<ref>A History of Robin Hood's Bay, p.107.</ref> where he settled at Pont Pill near Polruan, where he became friendly with the writer Daphne du Maurier.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Walmsley was married three times. He married Elsie Susanna Preston in 1919, divorcing her in 1932. Then, in 1933, he married Margaret Bell Little, divorcing her around 1946. His final marriage was to Stephanie Gubbins, in 1955.<ref name="WW"/>
Many of Walmsley's books are mainly autobiographical, the best known being his Bramblewick series set in Robin Hood's Bay, with Whitby appearing as Burnharbour.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His most notable works were Foreigners, Three Fevers, Phantom Lobster and Sally Lunn, the second of which was filmed as Turn of the Tide (1935).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn The author's note to Phantom Lobster, states that "There is no secret about Bramblewick. Its latitude and longitude are roughly 54.28.40 north, 0.34.10. west."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
He died in Fowey, Cornwall, on 8 June 1966.<ref name="TT"/> The house he lived in at 21 Passage Street was named "Bramblewick" after his book series.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The house that he lived in on King's Street in Robin Hood's Bay has a blue plaque on the outside.Template:Sfn
BibliographyEdit
- 1914 – Guide to the Geology of Whitby and District – Horne (Whitby)Template:Sfn
- 1919 – Fossils of the Whitby District – Horne
- 1920 – Flying and Sport in East Africa – Blackwood<ref name="WW"/>
- 1921 – The Silver Blimp – Nelson<ref name="WW"/>
- 1923 – The Lure of Thunder Island – Jenkins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1926 – The Green Rocket – Jenkins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1926 – Toro of the Little People – Hodder & Stoughton<ref name="WW"/>
- 1932 – Three Fevers – Cape<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 1933 – Phantom Lobster – Cape<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 1935 – Foreigners – CollinsTemplate:Sfn
- 1937 – Sally Lunn – Collins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1939 – Love in the Sun – Collins<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 1941 – Fishermen at War – Collins<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 1942 – British Ports and Harbours – Collins<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- 1944 – So Many Loves (autobiography) – Collins<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 1944 – Sally Lunn (the play) – Collins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1948 – Master Mariner – Collins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1951 – Lancashire and Yorkshire – Collins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1952 – Invisible Cargo – Joseph<ref name="WW"/>
- 1954 – The Golden Waterwheel – Collins<ref name="TT"/>
- 1957 – The Happy Ending – Collins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1959 – Sound of the Sea – Collins<ref name="WW"/>
- 1963 – Paradise Creek – Collins<ref name="TT"/>
- 1965 – Angler's Moon – Hamilton<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
BiographiesEdit
- 1944 – So Many Loves – Leo Walmsley (autobiography)Template:Sfn
- 1991 – The Honey Gatherers – Peter J. Woods
- 1995 – Autumn Gold – Stephanie Walmsley (his widow)
- 2001 – Shells and Bright Stones – Nona Stead (ed.)