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Joy Dunicliff
I hated history, or anything to do with it, until I came to my adopted home, the historic market town of Uttoxeter in Staffordshire. Here I found local and social history, and the subject changed m...view moreI hated history, or anything to do with it, until I came to my adopted home, the historic market town of Uttoxeter in Staffordshire. Here I found local and social history, and the subject changed my life. One thing led to another, and I am now regarded as a local historian. Much of my research has focused around the life and work of the town’s revered writer and poet, Mary Howitt. She wrote about the town in which she was living during the Napoleonic Wars and explained how her father was responsible for making changes to the town. Her life and work in literature, health, and politics, has now largely been forgotten, even locally, but Mary left her mark on the world, as did her children. This is about her two surviving sons, who certainly left their mark on Australia and on New Zealand. The research into their lives has really fascinated me, especially as I was supposed to go to New Zealand under the £10 passage scheme, after the Second World War. I was accepted, the sailing date arranged, but I am still awaiting that ticket.
I have, however, more recently enjoyed visiting that part of the world, trying to understand how Charlton and his brother Alfred might have felt exploring a completely new environment.
I have previously published “The Traveller on the Hill-top”, “Mary Howitt the Famous Authoress”, Mary Howitt: Another Lost Victorian Writer”, and “Quaker to Catholic” (renamed “Mary Looks Back”). Much research was undertaken prior to the days of the internet, which allowed me to enjoy travelling around, collecting the material, and meeting many interesting people.view less