Alison Uttley (17 December 1884 – 7 May 1976), ''née'' Alice Jane Taylor, was an English writer of over 100 books. She is best known for a children's series about

Little Grey Rabbit Little Grey Rabbit is the lead character in a classic, eponymous series of English children's books, written by Alison Uttley and illustrated by Margaret Tempest, except for the last five, illustrated by Katherine Wigglesworth. They appeared ov ...

and Sam Pig. She is also remembered for a pioneering

time slip A time slip is a plot device in fantasy and science fiction in which a person, or group of people, seem to travel through time by unknown means. The idea of a time slip was used in 19th century fantasy, an early example being Washington Irving ...

novel for children, ''A Traveller in Time'', about the imprisoned

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

Life

Born in

Cromford Cromford is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, in the valley of the River Derwent between Wirksworth and Matlock. It is north of Derby, south of Matlock and south of Matlock Bath. It is first mentioned in the 11th-centur ...

and brought up in rural

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, Alison Uttley was educated at the Lea School in Holloway and the

Lady Manners School Lady Manners School is an English secondary school located in Bakewell, a market town in the Peak District National Park, Derbyshire. It was founded on 20 May 1636 by Grace, Lady Manners, who lived at Haddon Hall, the current home of Lord and ...

Bakewell Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known also for its local Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, about 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Sheffield. In the 2011 census, t ...

, where she developed a love for science that led to a scholarship to

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

to read

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

. In 1906 she became the second woman

honours graduate A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

of the university and made a lifetime friendship with the charismatic Professor

Samuel Alexander Samuel Alexander (6 January 1859 – 13 September 1938) was an Australian-born British philosopher. He was the first Jewish fellow of an Oxbridge college. Early life Alexander was born at 436 George Street, in what is now the com ...

. After university, Alison Taylor trained as a teacher in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and in 1908 became a physics teacher at Fulham Secondary School for Girls in West London. Around 1910 she was living at The Old Vicarage, King Street,

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census was ...

. In 1911 she married James Arthur Uttley. In 1914 she had her only child, John Corin Taylor, who later married and became a public schoolmaster. James Uttley was prone to depression and drowned himself in the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

in 1930. In 1978, two years after his mother's death, John Corin Taylor, too, took his own life by driving over a cliff. From 1924 to 1938, the Uttleys lived at Downs House, 13 Higher Downs, Bowdon, Cheshire, which now has a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...

commemorating them. In 1938 she moved to Beaconsfield, where

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have b ...

was a neighbour, whom she came to dislike, describing her as a boastful and "vulgar, curled woman". She also hated her own illustrator, Margaret Tempest.

Writing career

In later life Uttley said that she began writing to support herself and her son financially after she was widowed, but in fact her first book was published in 1929, before her husband's death. Uttley recorded that one inspiration was a meeting in 1927 with Professor Alexander at a painting exhibition in Altrincham, at which he confused her with another ex-student and asked if she was still writing. Her first books were a series of tales about animals, including

, the Little Red Fox, Sam Pig and Hare. She later wrote for older children and adults, particularly focusing on rural topics, notably in ''The Country Child'' (1931), a fictionalized account of childhood experiences at her family farm home, Castle Top Farm, near

. One of her most popular works is ''A Traveller in Time'' (1939). Based on the

Babington Plot The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary (who had been imp ...

Anthony Babington Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quarte ...

Dethick Dethick, Lea and Holloway is a civil parish (and, since 1899, an ecclesiastical parish), in the Amber Valley borough of the English county of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,027. It is located in ...

, near her family home, this romance mixes dream and historical fact in a story of a 20th-century girl transported to the 16th century, becoming involved in a plot to free

from nearby

Wingfield Manor Wingfield Manor is a ruined manor house left deserted since the 1770s, near the village of South Wingfield and some west of the town of Alfreton in the English county of Derbyshire. There is a working farm that forms part of the old manor. It is ...

. Uttley later settled in

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

, in a house named Thackers after the house in the book. In January 1978 BBC TV showed the five-part series ''A Traveller in Time'' based on Uttley's story. It starred a 15-year-old newcomer,

Sophie Thompson Sophie Thompson (born 20 January 1962) is a British actress who has worked in film, television and theatre. A six-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of ''Into the Woods' ...

, and a then rising star,

Simon Gipps-Kent Simon Gipps-Kent (born Simon Trevor Kent; 25 October 1958 – 16 September 1987) was a prolificAlistair D. McGown & Mark J. Dochert''The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama – An Encyclopedia'' British Film Institute, 2003, p. 97. 20 ...

. In 1970 the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

awarded Uttley an honorary degree of

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

for her literary work. Later in 2021, they would name a Halls of Residence in her honour. In 2009 Alison Uttley's private diaries appeared, and she has been the subject of two biographies.

Works

Novels

*''Moonshine and Magic'' (1932) *''The Adventures of Peter and Judy in Bunnyland'' (1935) *''Mustard, Pepper and Salt'' (1938) *''High Meadows'' (1938) *''A Traveller in Time'' (1939) *''Cuckoo Cherry-Tree'' (1943) *''Mrs Nimble and Mr Bumble'' (1944) *''When All is Done'' (1945) *''The Washerwoman's Child: A Play on the Life and Stories of Hans Christian Andersen'' (1946) *''John at the Old Farm'' (1960) *''The Mouse, the Rabbit and the Little White Hen'' (1966) *''Enchantment'' (1966)

Short story collections

*''Candlelight Tales'' (1936) *''Nine Starlight Tales'' (1942) *''Ten Candlelight Tales (selections from "Candlelight Tales")'' (1942) *''The Spice Woman's Basket and Other Tales'' (1944) *''Some Moonshine Tales'' (1945) *''The Weather Cock and Other Stories'' (1945) *''John Barleycorn: Twelve Tales of Fairy and Magic'' (1948) *''The Cobbler's Shop and Other Tales'' (1950) *''Magic in My Pocket: A Selection of Tales'' (1957) *''The Little Knife Who Did All the Work: Twelve Tales of Magic'' (1962) *''Lavender Shoes: Eight Tales of Enchantment'' (1970)

Anthologies

*''Fairy Tales'' (edited by Kathleen Lines, 1975) *''Stories for Christmas'' (chosen by Kathleen Lines, 1977) *''From Spring to Spring: Stories of the Four Seasons'' (edited by Kathleen Lines, 1978) *''Foxglove Tales'' (edited by Lucy Meredith, 1984)

Memoirs and essays

*''The Country Child'' (1931) *''Ambush of Young Days'' (1937) *''The Farm on the Hill'' (1941) *''Country Hoard'' (1943) *''Country Things'' (1946) *''Carts and Candlesticks'' (1948) *''Macduff'' (1950) *''Plowmen's Clocks'' (1952) *''The Stuff of Dreams'' (1953) *''Here's a New Day'' (1956) *''A Year in the Country'' (1957) *''The Swans Fly Over'' (1959) *''Something for Nothing'' (1960) *''Wild Honey'' (1962) *''Cuckoo in June'' (1964) *''A Peck of Gold'' (1966) *''The Button-Box and Other Essays'' (1968) *''A Ten O'Clock Scholar and Other Essays'' (1970) *''Secret Places and Other Essays'' (1972) *''Country World: Memoirs of Childhood (Edited by Lucy Meredith; 1984)

Others

*''Buckinghamshire'' (1950) *''Recipes From an Old Farmhouse'' (1966)

As editor

*''In Praise of Country Life: An Anthology'' (1949)

"Sam Pig" books

*''Tales of the Four Pigs and Brock the Badger'' (1939) *''The Adventures of Sam Pig'' (1940) *''Sam Pig Goes to Market'' (1941) *''Six Tales of Brock the Badger'' (1941) *''Six Tales of Sam Pig'' (1941) *''Six Tales of the Four Pigs'' (1941) *''Sam Pig and Sally'' (1942) *''Sam Pig at the Circus'' (1943) *''Sam Pig in Trouble'' (1948) *''Yours Ever, Sam Pig'' (1951) *''Sam Pig and the Singing Gate'' (1955) *''Sam Pig Goes to the Seaside'' (1960) *''The Sam Pig Storybook'' (1965)

"Tim Rabbit" books

*''The Adventures of No Ordinary Rabbit'' (1937) *''Ten Tales of Tim Rabbit'' (1941) *''Adventures of Tim Rabbit'' (1945) *''Tim Rabbit and Company'' (1959) *''Tim Rabbit's Dozen'' (1964)

"Little Brown Mouse" books

*''Snug and Serena Meet a Queen'' (1950) *''Snug and Serena Pick Cowslips'' (1950) *''Going to the Fair'' (1951) *''Toad's Castle'' (1951) *''Mrs Mouse Spring-Cleans'' (1952) *''Christmas at the Rose and Crown'' (1952) *''The Gypsy Hedgehogs'' (1953) *''Snug and the Chimney-Sweeper'' (1953) *''The Mouse Telegrams'' (1955) *''The Flower Show'' (1955) *''Snug and the Silver Spoon'' (1957) *''Mr Stoat Walks In'' (1957) *''Snug and Serena Count Twelve'' (1959) *''Snug and Serena Go to Town'' (1961) *''The Brown Mouse Book: Magical Tales of Two Little Mice'' (1971)

"Little Red Fox" books

*''Little Red Fox and the Wicked Uncle'' (1954) *''Little Red Fox and Cinderella'' (1956) *''Little Red Fox and the Magic Moon'' (1958) *''Little Red Fox and the Unicorn'' (1962) *''The Little Red Fox and the Big Tree'' (1968)

"Grey Rabbit" books

*''The Squirrel, the Hare and the Little Grey Rabbit'' (1929) *''How Little Grey Rabbit Got Back Her Tail'' (1930) *''The Great Adventure of Hare'' (1931) *''The Story of Fuzzypeg the Hedgehog'' (1932) *''Squirrel Goes Skating'' (1934) *''Wise Owl's Story'' (1935) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Party'' (1936) *''The Knot Squirrel Tied'' (1937) *''Fuzzypeg Goes to School'' (1938) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Christmas'' (1939) *''My Little Grey Rabbit Painting Book'' (1940) *''Moldy Warp the Mole'' (1940) *''Hare Joins the Home Guard'' (1942) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Washing-Day'' (1942) *''Water-Rat's Picnic'' (1943) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Birthday'' (1944) *''The Speckledy Hen'' (1945) *''Little Grey Rabbit to the Rescue'' (play; 1946) *''Little Grey Rabbit and the Weasels'' (1947) *''Little Grey Rabbit and the Wandering Hedgehog'' (1948) *''Little Grey Rabbit Makes Lace'' (1950) *''Hare and the Easter Eggs'' (1952) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Valentine'' (1953) *''Little Grey Rabbit Goes to the Sea'' (1954) *''Hare and Guy Fawkes'' (1956) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Paint-Box'' (1958) *''Little Grey Rabbit Finds a Shoe'' (1960) *''Little Grey Rabbit and the Circus'' (1961) *''Three Little Grey Rabbit Plays'' (''The Grey Rabbit's Hospital'', ''The Robber'', and ''A Christmas Story''; 1961) *''Grey Rabbit's May Day'' (1963) *''Hare Goes Shopping'' (1965) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Pancake Day'' (1967) *''Little Grey Rabbit Goes to the North Pole'' (1970) *''Fuzzypeg's Brother'' (1971) *''Little Grey Rabbit's Spring Cleaning Party'' (1972) *''Little Grey Rabbit and the Snow-Baby'' (1973) *''Hare and the Rainbow'' (1975)

References

External links

Alison Uttley Papers
at the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

, University of Manchester
Biography
at Derbyshire UK

at Altrincham Local History Society *
Alison Uttley
at Alison Uttley Society * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uttley, Alison 1884 births 1976 deaths English children's writers People from Cromford Alumni of Hughes Hall, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Manchester Books about foxes Books about mice and rats Books about pigs Books about rabbits and hares