Fred J Speakman (born in
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
) was an English
naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
and
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
. He was one of Britain's best known naturalist-authors in the 1960s.
Life
Speakman grew up and lived in
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...
and became a teacher at Woodside School,
Walthamstow
Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...
. He spent his later years running a field centre at Roserville,
High Beach between 1959 and 1979.
A well known popular writer of illustrated guides to the English forests, in the mid 1950s with the support of Walthamstow's Education Office he began to convert Jubilee Retreat,
Chingford
Chingford is a suburban town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The centre of Chingford is north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walt ...
into a classroom able to take 20 pupils for day visits to the forest.
In 1959 he acquired Roserville, High Beach and converted it into a nature study centre. The borough became a pioneer in childhood environmental education, sending
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
children who often lived in
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
urban areas on fortnightly visits to be taught by Speakman at Roserville and Ernie Douse and later Ken Hoy at the Jubilee Retreat. As demand for trips to the forest increased, the new
London Borough of Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an Outer London, outer London boroughs, London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Municipal Borough of Leyton, Leyton, Municipal Borough of Walthamstow, Walthamstow an ...
purchased the Suntrap Centre in 1967, sending all final year primary classes to make eight visits a year to the centre.
After retiring he went on to live in
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
with his second wife Kit and died there in 1982.
Friends of Epping Forest p7
Retrieved 30 May 2013
Bibliography
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References
External links
Photo of Speakman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speakman, Fred J.
People from Epping Forest District
English non-fiction writers
English naturalists
Epping Forest District
1982 deaths
Year of birth missing
English male non-fiction writers