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Alison Uttley |
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Alison Uttley is probably
best known for her Little Grey Rabbit books written for
children. However, during her very successful career she
wrote about 120 books on various subjects for children and
adults. Her varied interests in dreams, time travel and
country matters provided material for her writings, often
revealing a woman of both sensitivity and perception. |
Today her books are as much loved as they ever have been and
remain popular to both adults and children. They have been
reprinted on numerous occasions and the values of the first
editions in particular have steadily risen in the last decade.
Alison was born in Derbyshire on 17th December 1884. She was
christened Alice Jane Taylor, adopting the name Alison upon
publication of her first book. Alison spent her childhood
living on her parent’s farm. Life here was happy and
secure and allowed her to develop a love of the countryside
around her. Until the age of 7 Alison was taught at home by
her mother. She then went to Lea Board School at Holloway
about 2 miles from her home. |
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She enjoyed her years at the school
and in 1897 as a talented student she was awarded a scholarship
to Lady Manners Grammar School in Bakewell. Here too her talent
shone through and in July of 1903 she was awarded another
scholarship, this time to Owen’s College at Manchester
University. Interestingly, although she began making up stories
at a young age, English was not a strong point at school and
at University she read physics.
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In the autumn of 1907, after obtaining her degree and deciding
on a career in teaching Alison started a years course at
the Lady’s Training College at Cambridge. It was here
that she received tuition on the art of writing and developed
a love of writing essays. Her teaching career progressed
and she obtained a position in Fulham, south London. After
just two years of teaching she was to become engaged to
and later marry James Uttley.
After the first World War and now with a young child, John,
the family settled at Downs House in Bowden, Cheshire. It
was here that Alison began work on her first autobiographical
book “The Country Child”. Having never expressed
an interest in writing to her husband he was dismissive
of this attempt.
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| Not to be discouraged Alison continued writing this time
a story to her son in school entitled “The Squirrels,
The Hare and a Little Grey Rabbit”. After showing the
manuscript to a number of publishers it was accepted by Heinemann
and published in 1929. For the publication the illustrator
Margaret Tempest was called upon to create the drawings. This
was the beginning of a long collaboration with her drawings
becoming an integral part of the charm of the Little Grey
Rabbit series. |
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Following the tragic death of her husband in 1930, Alison
turned to writing with renewed zeal – if nothing else
to help financially. Over the next decade she produced an
astonishing array of books, ranging from the autobiographical
work ‘The Country Child’ earlier rejected by
her husband, through to fairy tales (Moonshine & Magic,
Faber 1932) and of course many more books in the ‘Little
Grey Rabbit’ series.
'The Princess & The Pea'
from 'The Washerwoman's Child'> |
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| By the mid 1930’s she was
really starting to enjoy success as an author and was asked
by Faber to produce a successor to ‘The Country Child’.
This gave birth to ‘Ambush of Young Days’ published
in 1937. This like it’s predecessor benefited from the
superb illustrations of C.F. Tunnicliffe. 1937 also saw the
start of a new series about Tim Rabbit, illustrated at first
by Alec Buckles but later books in the series were illustrated
by A.E. Kennedy and Shirley Hughes. |
Sam Pig > |
1939 saw the
start of the Sam Pig books – eventually leading to
a total of 13 books. Throughout the 40’s she kept
busy with the aforementioned series as well as doing work
for the BBC having been asked to write about Hans Christian
Andersen. 1950 saw Alison start work on the ‘Little
Brown Mouse’ series followed in 1954 with the first
title in the ‘Little Red Fox’ books.
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Alison continued writing all
through her later years keeping busy till her death in 1976
at the age of 91. During her long career she proved herself
a very talented author, able to alternate between children’s
fiction and adult books easily. She also was able to work
with some of the great illustrators of the century –
their illustrations able to bring to life her characters
and settings in every title.
Her books remain very collectable, especially the ‘Little
Grey Rabbit’ titles and also the many books illustrated
by Tunnicliffe. However, all her work including her many
essays, are both enjoyable reading and a desirable addition
to any book collectors shelves.
Contributed by Steve Goddard |
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