LEO WALMSLEY
1892-1966
Leo Walmsley was born in the town of Shipley in West Yorkshire, England, and his family moved to the village of Robin Hood's Bay on the North Yorkshire coast when he was two years old. He grew up with a deep and abiding love for the moors and the coast of the area which expressed itself in his "Bramblewick" books written in the 1930s. These stories immortalised the local fishing community as well as Robin Hood's Bay itself. (Robin Hood's Bay, the real life Bramblewick, has its own monthly newspaper, the Bayfair. If you can't get to Bay to obtain a copy, you can visit its website on http://www.bayfair.co.uk)
He was awarded the Military Cross whilst serving with the Royal Flying Corps in East Africa during the First World War and later travelled widely in search of adventure. With his family he lived in various parts of the British Isles before finally settling in Fowey, Cornwall, where he died in 1966.
Readers of Walmsley's books will know that they are largely autobiographical and visits by the Society to many of the places which Leo knew and described have given members a deeper understanding of the life and works of the author.
In Walmsley's centenary year (1992) three of his "Bramblewick" books about the Yorkshire fishermen, "Three Fevers", "Phantom Lobster" and "Sally Lunn" were reprinted in new editions by Yorkshire publishers Smith Settle to appeal to a new generation of readers. Other titles also now available include "Paradise Creek" (reprinted 1995), "Guide to the Geology of the Whitby District" (1995) and "Sound of the Sea" (1997).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A bibliography of Leo Walmsley is available from the Walmsley Society - please refer to the Sales list.
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