With almost 70 published titles, Ursula Moray Williams’s work has enchanted generations of children. Now local fans can enjoy a glimpse into the life of the classic author at Newcastle’s Seven Stories. LYNDSEY FINERAN spoke to her granddaughter Kate Mennell ahead of tomorrow’s event
URSULA Moray Williams’s biography could almost be a storybook in itself. Born in Hampshire in 1911, the younger of identical twins, her childhood was spent writing, drawing and horse-riding with sister Barbara.
But it was her teen years spent in North Stoneham House, a rundown mansion in the Southampton countryside, that perhaps proved her greatest source of ideas for later work.
The author’s granddaughter Kate Mennell, 44 – who will be discussing her famous relative at Seven Stories tomorrow – explains: “They were given a lot of freedom within the grounds and the dilapidation of the place just fed their imaginations.
“Being as close as they were, they had a ready audience. Rather than being self-critical they could always be bouncing ideas off one another and hone them between themselves.
“I don’t think that sense of fantasy from her childhood ever really left her.”
Williams’ first book, Jean-Pierre, was published in 1931 when she was just 20, and her success continued for the next 70 years, even through Second World War paper shortages and a variety of personal troubles, making hers the longest-published career of any children’s writer of her generation.
Kate, a mother to four-year-old Celia, and who now works in publishing herself, says: “All the post-war adversity didn’t faze her. If it meant she had to put her pen down for a while or not be quite as prolific for a period, she just carried on when she could.
“I have great admiration for that, especially during this day and age where we’re working mums and always feel we haven’t enough time to do both tasks well. There was Grandma raising four sons, keeping a house during war time and yet still continuing to write.”
Ursula went on to illustrate more than half her books herself, while her twin Barbara, a successful artist in her own right, would illustrate a number of others.
“She had a passion for her writing”, says Kate. “But she didn’t think her life was any more exciting than anyone else’s. She sometimes spoke about her books but she was very self-deprecating and always modest. She never picked a favourite but, as a family, I think we projected Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse, Gobbolino, the Witch’s Cat and Bogwoppit as our favourites.”