W. V. Awdry

Infobox Writer
name = Wilbert Vere Awdry
birthdate = 15 June 1911
birthplace = Romsey, Hampshire, England
deathdate = death date and age|1997|3|21|1911|6|15|df=y
deathplace = Rodborough, Stroud, England

Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE, (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997), better known as the Reverend W. Awdry, was a clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author.

He is best known as the author of The Railway Series of books in which the character Thomas the Tank Engine originated.

Biography

Awdry was born in Romsey, Hampshire in 1911. The son of a clergyman, he was educated at Dauntseys School, West Lavington, Wiltshire; St Peter's Hall, Oxford (BA, 1932), and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained into the Anglican priesthood in 1936. In 1938 he married Margaret Wale, and two years later took a curacy in King's Norton, Birmingham where he lived until 1946. He subsequently moved to Cambridgeshire, serving as Rector of Elsworth with Knapwell, 1946-53, and Vicar of Emneth, 1953-65. He retired from full-time ministry in 1965, and moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire.

The characters that would make Awdry famous, and the first stories featuring them, were invented in 1943 to amuse his son Christopher during a bout of measles. After he wrote "The Three Railway Engines" Christopher wanted a model of Gordon; however that was too difficult. Instead Awdry made a model of a tank engine from odds and ends and painted it blue. Christopher christened the model engine Thomas. Then Christopher requested stories about Thomas and these duly followed and were published in the famous book "Thomas the Tank Engine" released in 1946.

The first book ("The Three Railway Engines") was published in 1945, and by the time Awdry stopped writing in 1972, "The Railway Series" numbered 26 books. Christopher subsequently added further books to the series.

Awdry's enthusiasm for railways did not stop at his publications. He was involved in railway preservation, and built model railways which he took to exhibitions around the country.

Awdry's story "Henry's Sneeze" (in The Railway Series book "Henry the Green Engine" ) originally described some soot-covered boys as being "as black as niggers". After complaints were made in 1972, twenty years after first publication, the description was changed to "as black as soot". [cite book|last=Sibley|first=Brian|authorlink=Brian Sibley|title=The Thomas the Tank Engine Man| publisher=Heinemann|location=London|date=1995|pages=pp272-5|isbn=0-434-96909-5]

Awdry wrote other books besides those of "The Railway Series", both fiction and non-fiction. The story "Belinda the Beetle" was about a red car (it became a Volkswagen Beetle only in the illustrations to the paperback editions).

Wilbert Awdry was awarded an OBE in the 1996 New Year’s Honours List, but by that time his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London. He died peacefully in Stroud, Gloucestershire on 21 March 1997, at the age of 85. He is interred at Gloucester Crematorium.

Memorials

A Class 91 locomotive, 91 124 bears the name "The Rev W Awdry". A Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST (saddle tank) engine on the Dean Forest Railway is named "Wilbert" after him; and was used as the title character in Christopher Awdry's Railway Series book "Wilbert the Forest Engine".

'Letter' to Christopher

In the second book in the series, "Thomas the Tank Engine", Awdry wrote this 'letter' to Christopher:cite book
last =Rev. W. Awdry
authorlink =W. V. Awdry
title ="Thomas the Tank Engine"
publisher =Edmund Ward (Publishers) Ltd
date =1946
pages =p3
id =ISBN 0 434 92779 1 ] ::"Dear Christopher",:"Here is your friend Thomas, the Tank Engine".:"He wanted to come out of his station-yard and see the world.":"These stories tell you how he did it.": :"I hope you will like them because you helped me to make them.":"Your Loving Daddy"

Subsequent books featured a similar letter from the author, addressed to the readers of the book as "Dear Friends", which introduced the background to the stories within the book.

This text also appears at the beginning of "Thomas and Friends" episodes from 2003-today. The "letter" appears with a story book showing Thomas on the front cover with "THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE" at the top and BY THE REV. W. AWDRY at the bottom. The book then opens up and we see the letter, after the letter is finished a "steam" transition appears and it transitions to the Thomas & Friends theme song. A flash version of this letter can be seen on the Thomas & Friends website as "Author's Message", (which inaccurately states that Awdry wrote the letter in "The Three Railway Engines" which is the only Railway Series volume not to begin with a Foreword).

Publications

;Fiction
* The Railway Series
* "Belinda the Beetle" (1958) illustrated by Ionicus
* "Belinda Beats the Band" (1961) illustrated by John T. Kenney
* W V Awdry & G E V Awdry, , Kaye and Ward, 1986.

;Non-fiction
* "Our Child Begins to Pray" (Edmund Ward, 1951)
* P J Long & W V Awdry, "The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway", Alan Sutton Publishing, 1987.

Biography

A biography entitled "The Thomas the Tank Engine Man" was written by Brian Sibley and published in 1995.

References

Further reading

* Wilbert Vere Awdry from "Dictionary of Literary Biography" by M. Margaret Dahlberg, University of North Dakota. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale

External links

* [http://www.awdry.family.name/wilbert-awdry.htm Rev. W. V. Awdry] –" Biography at the Official Awdry Family Website"
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970322/ai_n14095168 "Obituary: The Rev W. Awdry"] ", from The Independent, written by Brian Sibley"
* [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=awPGiqoCrSgC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=awdry+obituary&source=web&ots=8bSVE66ZVC&sig=wsT_AvYcT6bpBdSt6z4x4-G6YMY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA154,M1 "Priests and Prelates: The Daily Telegraph Clerical Obituaries" (Entry for Rev. W Awdry)] , "by Trevor Beeson – Warning: contains some factual errors."
* [http://www.bigg-wither.com/Obituaries_and_Eulogies/The_Reverend_W_V_Awdry_1911_-_1987.htm Daily Telegraph Obituary] – "on which "Priests and Prelates" is based; also contains errors"
* [http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool1997/obits/awdry.html Obituary] – "at the "Derby Dead Pool"

Persondata
NAME= Awdry, Wilbert Vere
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= 15 June 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH= Romsey, Hampshire, England
DATE OF DEATH= 1997-3-21
PLACE OF DEATH= Rodborough, Stroud, England