Connections and Inspirations: the Influence of Richard Jefferies on Writers and Poets

RICHARD JEFFERIES SOCIETY 

STUDY DAY

SATURDAY 24 June 2017

Connections and Inspirations: the Influence of Richard Jefferies on Writers and Poets

Readings from Richard Jefferies and Alfred Williams

Birthday Lecture 5 Nov 2016

Event: Tewkesbury and John Moore

Ben Tubbs Adventures published for the first time

Ben Tubbs Adventures is Richard Jefferies’ earliest extant work of any length, probably written in his late teens.  It is a quest novel of voyage and adventure, and his first essay in a genre to which he was naturally drawn. It was probably influenced by the greatest quest story of them all, Homer’s Odyssey, one of Jefferies’ favourite books as a boy.

It is likely that Jefferies wrote it for his personal amusement and the entertainment of family and friends. For students of Jefferies, the novel is of interest.

The humour and Ben’s pranks in the early chapters of the book are juvenile and immature but fitting for a boy’s story. The descriptions of the slaves on the slave-ships are racist in the extreme and painful to read. However the later chapters, that treat Ben’s adventures in America, show some sparks of Jefferies’ real writing talent. He describes the prairies with great sensitivity.

The book is published for the first time (April 2016), in paperback (200pp)and is available through the Richard Jefferies Society at a cost of £8 plus postage (rrp £12). Go to:

http://richardjefferiessociety.org.  There is an excellent introduction by Andrew Rossabi and this is worth reading in its own right.

Ben Tubbs Adventures (Petton Books: Norfolk, 2016). ISBN: 9780956375179.

NEW PUBLICATION - AVAILABLE NOW

The Farmer’s World (Petton Books, Feb. 2016) is now available. The book comprises all the articles (nearly 90) by Jefferies published in The Live Stock Journal and Fancier's Gazette in the late 1870s, along with a masterly introduction by Professor Eric Jones.

The articles are forthright, almost campaigning, often urging readers to reconsider their conservative ways, to be innovative, to seek commercial opportunities and to tackle waste. ‘Middlemen’ were regularly disparaged, traditional methods of distribution questioned and imaginative schemes suggested to bring producer and consumer closer together. Jefferies also displayed a surprising ability in figures and a good grasp of mechanical engineering, explaining with clarity the workings of newly invented farming machinery. The essays collected here demonstrate Jefferies’ expertise in trade-paper journalism and contrast sharply with his later, lyrical work. He was a modernist of his time, and declares: ‘agriculture has become far too wide for the brain of any one man’.

The soft-back book can be purchased from the Richard Jefferies Society for £10 plus postage. 

The Presence of the Past: Richard Jefferies, the Middle Ridgeway and landscape change

Richard Jefferies Society Birthday Lecture

Saturday 25 October 2014 - 2.30-4.40pmSubject: The Presence of the Past:  Richard Jefferies, the Middle Ridgeway and landscape change
Speaker: Prof. Patrick Dillon

Venue: Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Liddington, SN4 0HB

Admittance: Free

Walking the Icknield Way and the Ridgeway by Hugh Thomson

Hugh Thomson has spent many years travelling through and writing about Peru, Mexico and the Indian Himalaya but turned his attention, this time, closer to home. Travelling along the Icknield Way, he passed the great prehistoric monuments of Maiden Castle, Stonehenge and Avebury, before ending at the Wash near Seahenge. His journey took him through Jefferies Land and Liddington Castle. Hugh will take us on an exploration of our local ancient landscape along a 400 mile journey from coast to coast. In his book, Hugh casts unexpected light – and humour – on the way we live now. Copies of the book will be available to buy on the day that Mr Thomson will be pleased to sign.

Harmony by Julian Anderson

The Richard Jefferies Society has written to a young British composer congratulating him on his opening composition for the first night of the BBC Proms (12th July).

 The new work entitled Harmony, for choir and orchestra, by Julian Anderson lasted 5 minutes, was commissioned by the BBC and performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The piece was inspired by Richard Jefferies’ autobiography The Story of My Heart and words taken from it included:

 The clock may make time for itself; there is none for me...The shadow goes on upon the dial, the index moves round upon the clock, and what is the difference? None whatever. If the clock had never been set going, what would have been the difference?

The interview and composition was broadcast on BBC radio 3 and can be played at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036jm00

Richard Jefferies Society Birthday Lecture 3rd November

Richard Jefferies was born on 6th November 1848. Each year the Richard Jefferies Society celebrate his birth with a Lecture as part of the Annual General Meeting.  This year Rebecca Welshman from the University of Exeter will speak on the subject of "Imagining Archaeology: nature and landscape in the work of Richard Jefferies."

The details are as follows:

Memorial event 16th March 2012 Eltham Churchyard

Richard Oliver Launcelot Jefferies (18th July 1883 – 16th March 1885) memorial – ceremony at St John’s Churchyard, Eltham on Friday 16 March 2012 at 2pm

Birthday Lecture

Richard Jefferies: An Anthology by Hugoe Matthews and Rebecca Welshman.

This new anthology of extracts from Jefferies' writing is selected by Hugoe Matthews and Rebecca Welshman. It aims to highlight his broad, exploratory, and sometimes unpredictable nature in his works. The authors have focused primarily on short quotations which read well independently, and longer passages which demonstrate the context, the quality of the writing, or the flow of Richard Jefferies’ thoughts and observations. Where possible the selections are chronological and show a shift in the emphasis of his work from the 1870s, which focused largely on practical subjects such as farming and rural life, to his later work of increased sensitivity and perception of the natural world. Thereby they have sought to reveal the organic continuity and calm objectivity of Jefferies’ writing, which was present from his teens and addressed a diversity of subjects during an extraordinary era of change, illuminating both the man behind the words, and the times in which he lived. The Anthology is published in a case-bound, thread-sewn book of 266 pages.

The book was published on 6 November 2010 to celebrate 162 years since the day the author was born.

ISBN: 978-0-9563751-2-4. Price £20 (plus postage: £2.50 UK) It can be ordered via the Richard Jefferies Society.

Richard Jefferies’ science fiction book: basis for Birthday Lecture on 6 November

Professor John Carey (pictured above) will be giving this year’s Richard Jefferies’ Birthday Lecture on Saturday 6 November at Liddington Village Hall starting at 2.30pm, 162 years after Swindon’s most celebrated writer was born and raised at Coate Farm in 1848.

Adventures in the Vale of the White Horse

Exactly 100 years after Kate Tryon’s first visit to Swindon, to see the places that Richard Jefferies wrote about, her memoir of the occasion has been published by the Richard Jefferies Society.

60 YEAR OLD CINE FILM ABOUT RICHARD JEFFERIES FOUND IN A LOFT IN ESSEX RETURNS HOME

 A cine film, made by the Film Production Unit of the Swindon Public Library Film Society in 1948, has found its way back to Swindon. The film, produced as a tribute to Richard Jefferies one hundred years after his birth, was found in a loft in Essex by Philip Mansbridge among films about trains.

RICHARD JEFFERIES “SPIRIT COUNTRY”

RICHARD JEFFERIES “SPIRIT COUNTRY”

An illustrated lecture by Roger Vlitos, photographer.

Liddington Village Hall, Saturday 11th October 2008: 2.30pm

MULBERRY TREE --COATE FARM

 

170 year old fruit tree snapped in two by winds

Richard Jefferies famous mulberry tree was another casualty of the high winds that blew across central England in the early hours of Monday (24 September 2007) morning. The old tree, thought to be about 170 years old, was snapped in two and lost its main branch (see picture).

The tree forms the main focal point in the back garden of the Jefferies house and museum at Coate and was planted by Richard Jefferies father.Richard Jefferies sent many hours sitting under this tree and even composed a poem to it* when it lost a bough during his lifetime.Now others are penning their tributes to the tree and it is hoped that the wood from the fallen trunk can be seasoned and turned into something equally beautiful and memorable.

Jean Saunders, secretary of the Richard Jefferies Society said:"We are all heart broken to see the tree in its present state. However battered it may be, we will still love it and treasure it. The fruits are delicious and children have danced around it this year singing 'here we go round the mulberry bush'. To be on the safe side, we are taking cuttings but hope that the tree survives another century or two".

~~~ 

*  Richard Jefferies wrote his poem about the mulberry tree around 1871, but it did not appear in print until the year after his death. It was published in the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard on Saturday 16 June 1888 under the title of 'The Tree of Life'. 

Oh, mulberry tree, oh mulberry tree

Dear are thy spreading boughs to me.

Beneath their cool and friendly shade

My earliest childhood laughed and played,

Or, lips all stained with rich red fruit

Slept in the long grass at thy root.

Oh mulberry tree, oh mulberry tree !

The yellow moonlight shone on thee.

A few low words--a gentle sigh,

A tear within the upturned eye.

“I love—my fate to thee resign"—

A nameless thrill, and she was mine.

The mid-day sun in splendour blazed,

And all who stood around me praised.

The deed was done, the fame went round,

My brows with laurel leaves were crowned

My first—my proudest victory

Beneath thy boughs, oh mulberry tree.

The tears of Heaven were falling fast,

Mourning the memory of the past.

I knelt beneath the broken limb

In rain and night, and wept for him.

I saw the tomb -- the planks laid there,

To slide the coffin to its lair,

"Ashes to ashes", this the end,

My first, my last -- my only friend!

The morning stars grew pale and few,

In chilly draughts the east wind blew,

Lifting the black and frost-strewn leaves

In rustling eddies to the eaves.

Deceived no more with life's vain lies,

And all things equal in mine eyes,

I wait--still near the mulberry tree,

The dawning of eternity!

Whoe'er shall pluck the mulberry tree,

Bitter and sweet its fruit shall be;

Such --joy and misery still at strife,

The berries of the Tree of Life!

Antique bust of Richard Jefferies presented to the Jefferies Museum by Salisbury’s Mayor

On 2nd April, Sheila Warrander, the Mayor of Salisbury District Councillor and Cllr. Justin Tomlinson, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for leisure, culture and recreation unveiled an antique bust of Richard Jefferies [1] at the Jefferies Museum at Coate[2] that has graced the committee room in Salisbury for over 80 years.

The white alabaster bust is a replica of the marble statue sculpted by Margaret Thomas that was unveiled in Salisbury Cathedral in 1892. It is believed that Miss Thomas made about five plaster replicas and it appears that this copy was once owned by Jefferies' Biographer Walter Besant, from whom it passed to the Association of Authors in London. The bust was offered for sale to Salisbury City Council, who declined it at first but then Alderman Frederick Sutton the renowned local confectioner and later Mayor of Salisbury bought the bust and presented it to the council in 1925. This particular copy of the cathedral bust appears to be the only one remaining apart from a version made for London’s National Portrait Gallery.

John Price, Chairman of the Richard Jefferies Society said:

“We are most grateful to Salisbury District Council for this rare and most welcome honour. The sculptress, Margaret Thomas, had but a few pictures of the writer on which to base her work. Jefferies had recently died, in 1887, aged only 37. Miss Thomas spoke to family and friends of the writer and mainly used a photo taken when Jefferies was 30 years old. We have given the statue pride of place on display in the large bay window of Jefferies’ sitting room”.

Mrs Sheila Warrander, the Mayor of Salisbury said:

“We have recently started to refurbish and extend our offices in Salisbury and, in knowledge that the Jefferies Museum is expanding its collection, it seemed appropriate to lend the statue to the museum where it can be appreciated by more visitors. We are delighted to find this perfect home for the sculpture. It is a charming museum”.

The Mayor was accompanied by Steve Milton, Salisbury District Council’s Principal Democratic Services Manager whose great grandfather was a friend of the author [3], along with Ruth Davies from the same department. Councillor Justin Tomlinson was accompanied by Paul Blacker, Director of leisure, culture and recreation for Swindon Borough Council. John Price, John Webb and Jean Saunders attended on behalf of the Richard Jefferies Society.
The Jefferies Museum is next open on Wednesday 11th April from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free and there is a creative writers’ group workshop running at the same time that visitors can join.


ENDS

Editors notes:

[1] Richard Jefferies was born at Coate Farm near Swindon on 6th of November 1848. The author spent his childhood exploring Coate Water and the local fields and woods, observing wildlife and nature. The area around his home at Coate has been known for years as “Jefferies Land”. It has become a place of pilgrimage for generations of readers.
Jefferies had a great exhilaration for life although he died from tuberculosis at the age of 37 and spent his last ten years in extreme pain. None the less he wrote over 20 novels and hundreds of essays many of them based on his life at Coate and his observations of nature and rural life. He has been described as a “many sided genius”. Historians cite him as an authority on agriculture in Victorian England. Major studies of mysticism have anthologised his work and discussed his ideas. He wrote one of the great novels for boys, Bevis, the Story of a Boy as well as several highly original novels for adult readers. He is recognised as one of the greatest nature writers in the language and he topped a Guardian 2005 poll for Britain’s favourite country writers.

[2] The Richard Jefferies Museum is situated between the Sun Inn at Coate and Day House Lane opposite the petrol station on the Marlborough Road. The old farm was purchased by Swindon Corporation in 1926 and it is still owned by Swindon Borough Council. The museum was opened to the public on a limited basis in the 1960’s. The Richard Jefferies Society, founded in 1950, has supplied the majority of the exhibits in the museum and for the last twenty years has provided volunteers to open the museum on the first and third Sundays of the month from May to September between 2-5pm and the second Wednesday of the month throughout the year from 10am to 4pm. Admittance to the house and grounds is free.

[3] Steve Milton is the great grandson of John William North ARA RWS the well known Victorian painter and friend of Richard Jefferies. Jefferies stayed with North in Somerset during his research for Red Deer and Wild Life in a Southern County. North had visited Jefferies on several occasions and was present on the day he died. North took in Jefferies' widow Jessie and his children to live with him in Somerset, he raised a fund to assist the family that raised around £1,300 in donations and he helped secure a pension from Parliament to assist them. North was on the committee that erected the bust in Salisbury Cathedral.

New life for the Richard Jefferies Museum at Coate

PRESS RELEASE New life for the Richard Jefferies Museum at Coate 

This year there will be a burst of new activities at the Richard Jefferies Museum (1) thanks to a grant from the Lottery’s Awards for All programme (2). 

 The Richard Jefferies Society (3) has been awarded £9,200 for a community project entitled “Footsteps of Richard Jefferies” that aims to encourage local people to become better acquainted with their local writer (4) born at Coate Farm in 1848, to visit places that influenced his work and be inspired to write themselves. 

 There will be story telling walks and adventures based on extracts from Jefferies’ children’s fable Wood Magic (published in 1881) that will be led by Hilda Sheehan, a Kindermusik Educator. Writers workshops for adults and schools will be run by community poet, Tony Hillier. A guided walk around Coate Water and the museum will be led by Mark Daniel and a tour guide will be produced. 

Jean Saunders, secretary of the Richard Jefferies Society said: “This grant couldn’t have come at a better time. Last year there was a record number of visitors to the Jefferies’ museum and volunteers have been working really hard to make the place more inviting. The old dairy farm is full of atmosphere yet many Swindonians know nothing about the home of one of England’s finest nature writers or the man. With this grant we hope to put that right and make the town proud of its unique literary heritage”. 

 Robert Buckland, Parliamentary Candidate for Swindon South said: "The legacy of Richard Jefferies will be well and truly brought to life by this important project. My congratulations and good wishes to a Society that deserves our fullest support." 

 The grant will be used to fund the following events that are free for participants:

  Writers’ workshops for adults have been set up and are held on the second Wednesday of the month from 10am to 4pm at the museum. From today schools can book two hour sessions throughout the school terms by contacting Tony Hillier on 01793 346440. A pamphlet of works will be produced at the end of the year. 

  The story-telling walks are geared, in particular, for young children. The stories include ‘The Cunning Spider’ who lived in the Coate Farm garden and such was his skill at capturing flies that the toad, who lived under the rhubarb bush, hatched a plan to outwit the spider. As well as the story walk around the museum and grounds that will be launched in May there will be activities such as treasure hunts and children will be given an illustrated book of stories. Other story walks will be organised at 11am on certain Sundays of the month until the end of September. 

  The Guided walk around Coate Water and Coate Farm will take place on Sunday 3rd June but the leaflet describing the tour will be available at Coate Water and the museum next month. For more information about the events contact Jean Saunders on 01793 783040  

ENDS 

 Editor’s notes 

(1) The museum, next to Coate Water, was once a small dairy farm and the birthplace and home of Richard Jefferies, an influential Victorian nature writer. The farm was bought by Swindon Corporation in 1926 and as a result of loans from members of the Richard Jefferies Society, an exhibition has been established there. 

 (2) Awards for All is the small grants scheme administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of Lottery good cause funders, Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England. The scheme makes awards of between £300 and £10,000 to grass roots community groups and voluntary organisations. 

 (3) The Richard Jefferies Society was founded in 1950 to promote the appreciation and study of the writings of Richard Jefferies. There are about 300 members spread around the world. The Society provides volunteers who open the Jefferies’ museum to the public on the first and third Sundays of May to September inclusive from 2-5pm and on the second Wednesday of the month from 10am to 4pm throughout the year. 

 (4) Richard Jefferies was born at Coate Farm on 6th of November 1848 and it was his home until his late twenties. The author spent his childhood exploring Coate Water and the local fields and woods, observing wildlife and nature with an enquiring eye. The area around his home at Coate has been known for years as “Jefferies Land”. It has become a place of pilgrimage for generations of readers. He has been described as a “many sided genius”. Historians cite him as an authority on agriculture and rural life in Victorian England. Major studies of mysticism have anthologised his work and discussed his ideas. He wrote one of the great novels for boys (Bevis based around adventures at Coate and Coate Water), as well as several highly original novels for adult readers. He is recognised as one of the greatest nature writers in the language and he topped a Guardian 2005 poll for favourite country writers. He married Jessie Baden from neighbouring Day House Farm and his final home was at Goring by Sea near Worthing where he died of tuberculosis at the age of 37.