Henry Williamson (1890-1982), novelist, was born in South London and educated at Colfe's Grammar School, Lewisham. He fought in the army in the First World War and gained a deep sense of the futility of conflict as a result. He worked as a journalist for a short while before writing his first novel, 'The Beautiful Years', in 1921. This became volume one of a quartet, named 'The Flax of Dreams'. At the same time he moved to North Devon and, in 1927, wrote there 'Tarka the Otter', the book on which his fame most heavily rests, and 'A Patriot's Progress' (1930), based on his trench experiences. After 'Salar the Salmon' (1935) he became an outspoken supporter of German reform and British fascism, which led to his being briefly interned at the start of the war. His postwar work, which is arguably his most important, is a cycle of fifteen novels entitled, 'A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight', which was completed in 1960.
He met Anna[bel] Cash in 1969, and wrote very frequently to her for the next year or so. Anna[bel] Cash became Anna Brook on her marriage in about 1973, later Anna Ellis upon remarrying, and Anna Cash (again) in 1996.
From the guide to the Henry Williamson Society: letters of Annabel Cash, 1984-1996, (University of Exeter)
