Wilbert Awdry

Wilbert Vere Awdry OBE (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997), often credited as Rev. W. Awdry, was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He is best remembered as the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine and several other characters who appeared in his Railway Series.

The Reverend Wilbert Awdry OBE
Awdry in 1988
Born	Wilbert Vere Awdry (1911-06-15)15 June 1911 Ampfield, Hampshire, England
Died	21 March 1997(1997-03-21) (aged 85) Rodborough, Gloucestershire, England
Occupation	Anglican cleric railway enthusiast children's author
Alma mater	St Peter's Hall, Oxford Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
Genre	Children's literature
Years active	1945–1972
Notable works	The Railway Series
Spouse	Margaret Wale ​ ​ (m. 1938; died 1989)​
Children	3, including Christopher Awdry
Ecclesiastical career
Religion	Christianity (Anglican)
Church	Church of England
Ordained	1936 (deacon) 1939 (priest)

Life and career

Wilbert Awdry was born at Ampfield vicarage near Romsey, Hampshire, on 15 June 1911. His father was Vere Awdry (1854–1928), the Anglican vicar of Ampfield, and his mother was Lucy Awdry (née Bury; 1884–1965). Vere was the son of judge Sir John Wither Awdry and brother of bishop William Awdry. Wilbert was derived from William and Herbert, names of his father's two brothers. His younger brother, George, was born on 10 August 1916 and died on 27 October 1994. All three of Awdry's older half-siblings from his father's first two marriages died young, the youngest being killed in World War I. At Ampfield as a toddler he saw his father construct a handmade 40-yard (37 m), 2.5-inch-gauge (64 mm) model railway. In 1917, the family moved to Box, in Wiltshire, moving again within Box in 1919 and in 1920, the third house being "Journey's End" (renamed from "Lorne Villa"), which remained the family home until August 1928.

"Journey's End" was only 200 yards (180 m) from the western end of Box Tunnel, where the Great Western Railway main line climbs at a gradient of 1 in 100 for 2 miles (3.2 km). A banking engine was kept there to assist freight trains up the hill. These trains usually ran at night, and the young Awdry could hear them from his bed, listening to the coded whistle signals between the train engine and the banker as well as the sharp bark from the locomotive exhausts as they fought their way up the incline. Awdry said, "There was no doubt in my mind that steam engines all had definite personalities. I would hear them snorting up the grade and little imagination was needed to hear in the puffings and pantings of the two engines the conversation they were having with one another." Here was the inspiration for the story of Edward helping Gordon's train up the hill, a story that Wilbert first told his son Christopher some 25 years later, and which appeared in the first of the Railway Series books.

Awdry was educated at Marlborough House School, Hawkhurst, Kent (1919–1924), Dauntsey's School, West Lavington, Wiltshire (1924–1929), St Peter's Hall, Oxford (BA, 1932), and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, where he gained his diploma in theology in 1933. He taught for three years from 1933 to 1936 at St George's School, Jerusalem, then part of Mandatory Palestine. He was ordained to the Church of England diaconate in 1936 and subsequently the priesthood. In 1938, he married Margaret Emily Wale (1912 – 21 March 1989). In 1940, he took a curacy at St Nicolas Church, Kings Norton, Birmingham, where he lived until 1946. He subsequently moved to Cambridgeshire, serving as rector of Elsworth with Knapwell (1946–1950), rural dean at Bourn (1950–1953) and then vicar of Emneth, Norfolk (1953–1965). He retired from full-time ministry in 1965 and moved to Rodborough in Stroud in Gloucestershire.

Awdry in May 1988, with Edward Thomas, dressed as "Peter Sam", on the Talyllyn Railway, Wales

The characters that would make Awdry known and the first stories featuring them were invented in 1942 to amuse his son Christopher during a bout of measles. After Awdry wrote The Three Railway Engines, he built Christopher a model of Edward, and some wagons and coaches, out of a wooden broomstick and scraps of wood. Christopher also wanted a model of Gordon; however the wartime shortage of materials limited Awdry to making a little 0-6-0 tank engine. Awdry said, "The natural name was Thomas – Thomas the Tank Engine." Then Christopher requested stories about Thomas and these duly followed and were published in the book Thomas the Tank Engine, published in 1946.

The first book, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945 by Edmund Ward in Leicester. Awdry wrote 26 books in The Railway Series, the last in 1972. Christopher subsequently added further books to the series.

In 1947, 0-6-0T engine No. 1800 was built by Hudswell Clarke; it spent its working life at the British Sugar factory in Peterborough, pushing wagons of sugar beet until it was finally replaced by a diesel engine. Peterborough Railway Society purchased the engine in 1973, and this little blue 'Thomas' engine is the star of the Nene Valley Railway.

Awdry's study, now preserved in the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum on the Talyllyn Railway

In 1952, Awdry volunteered as a guard on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales, then in its second year of preservation. The railway inspired Awdry to create the Skarloey Railway, based on the Talyllyn, with some of his exploits being written into the stories.

Wilbert Awdry cuts a birthday cake for Thomas the Tank Engine at The National Railway Museum, York, 1980.

Awdry's enthusiasm for railways did not stop at his publications. He was involved in railway preservation, and built model railways, which he took to exhibitions around the country. At Emneth he created an extensive model railway network in his loft based on Barrow-in-Furness. Emneth was also close to three Wisbech railway stations. Emneth railway station was on the EAR line from Magdalen Road Station (now known as Watlington) to Wisbech East, Emneth station is now a private residence. The GER Wisbech and Upwell Tramway tram engines, coaches and rolling stock were similar to Toby the Tram Engine and Henrietta and the Ely to King's Lynn mainline with Wisbech East railway station on Victoria Road. The M&GN Peterborough to Sutton Bridge via Wisbech North railway station on Harecroft Road. There were also harbour lines either side of the Port of Wisbech on the River Nene – M&GN Harbour West branch and GER Harbour East branch. He was a passenger on Alan Pegler's 1968 non-stop Flying Scotsman London King's Cross to Edinburgh run.

Awdry wrote other books besides those of The Railway Series, both fiction and non-fiction. The story Belinda the Beetle was about a red car (it became a Volkswagen Beetle only in the illustrations to the paperback editions).

In 1988, his second Ffarquhar model railway layout was shown to the public for the final time and was featured on an ITN News news item. He was again featured on TV-am for Thomas's 40th anniversary in 1990. During all this, Awdry faced many battles – health problems, depression, and the deaths of his wife, brother, and close friend Teddy Boston. Five years later, he was interviewed by Nicholas Jones for the Bookmark film The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, which first aired on 25 February 1995 and repeated again on 15 April 1997 shortly after his death.

Awdry was appointed an OBE in the 1996 New Year's Honours List, but by that time his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London. He died peacefully in his sleep in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on 21 March 1997, at the age of 85. His ashes are interred at Gloucester Crematorium.

A biography entitled The Thomas the Tank Engine Man was written by Brian Sibley and published in 1995.

Memorials

Awdry's memorial plaque, shared with his wife Margaret, at Church Place, Rodborough, Gloucestershire

A Class 91 locomotive, 91 124, used to bear the name The Rev W Awdry. A Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST (saddle tank) engine on the Dean Forest Railway is named Wilbert after him; and was used as the title character in Christopher Awdry's Railway Series book Wilbert the Forest Engine.

In 2003, a stained glass window commissioned by the Awdry family was unveiled at St Edmund's church, Emneth, Norfolk.

In 2011, a blue plaque was unveiled by his daughter Veronica Chambers at The Old Vicarage, Emneth where he lived between 1953 and 1965. In 2012 a blue plaque was unveiled at "Lorne House", Box, where he lived between 1920 and 1928 when its name was "Journey's End".

In 2013, Cambridgeshire County Council named their new offices in Wisbech Awdry House in his memory.

In 2015, a CGI representation of Awdry made a cameo appearance in the Thomas & Friends feature-length special Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. The character, referred to by his Railway Series alias, 'The Thin Clergyman', made several further appearances including in The Great Race (2016).

A pedestrian rail crossing bridge has been dedicated to Awdry in 2017 in the small Hampshire town of Chandlers Ford, which is very close (and has the closest railway line and station) to his birthplace of Ampfield.

In 2021, to mark the 75th anniversary of Thomas the Tank Engine, a blue plaque was unveiled at the old Rectory of Holy Trinity Church in Elsworth, Cambridgeshire. Cambridge Past, Present & Future put up the plaque to mark the books he wrote there, which his family was present at. His daughter, Veronica Chambers, said she was "delighted and moved".

Letter to Christopher

Wilbert and son Christopher Awdry, National Railway Museum,York 1980

In the second book in the series, Thomas the Tank Engine, Awdry wrote this "letter" to his son Christopher:

Dear Christopher,
Here is your friend Thomas, the Tank Engine.
He wanted to come out of his station-yard and see the world.
These stories tell you how he did it.

I hope you will like them because you helped me to make them.
Your Loving Daddy

Subsequent books featured a similar letter from the author, addressed to the readers of the book as "Dear Friends", which introduced the background to the stories within the book.

This text also appears at the beginning of Thomas and Friends episodes from 2004 to 2012. The letter appears with a storybook showing Thomas on the front cover with "Thomas the Tank Engine" at the top and "By the Rev. W. Awdry" at the bottom. The letter is read in voice-over by British actor Nigel Plaskitt.

Publications

Fiction

• The Railway Series books
  • No. 1 The Three Railway Engines (1945)
  • No. 2 Thomas the Tank Engine (1946)
  • No. 3 James the Red Engine (1948)
  • No. 4 Tank Engine Thomas Again (1949)
  • No. 5 Troublesome Engines (1950)
  • No. 6 Henry the Green Engine (1951)
  • No. 7 Toby the Tram Engine (1952)
  • No. 8 Gordon the Big Engine (1953)
  • No. 9 Edward the Blue Engine (1954)
  • No. 10 Four Little Engines (1955)
  • No. 11 Percy the Small Engine (1956)
  • No. 12 The Eight Famous Engines (1957)
  • No. 13 Duck and the Diesel Engine (1958)
  • No. 14 The Little Old Engine (1959)
  • No. 15 The Twin Engines (1960)
  • No. 16 Branch Line Engines (1961)
  • No. 17 Gallant Old Engine (1962)
  • No. 18 Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine (1963)
  • No. 19 Mountain Engines (1964)
  • No. 20 Very Old Engines (1965)
  • No. 21 Main Line Engines (1966)
  • No. 22 Small Railway Engines (1967)
  • No. 23 Enterprising Engines (1968)
  • No. 24 Oliver the Western Engine (1969)
  • No. 25 Duke the Lost Engine (1970)
  • No. 26 Tramway Engines (1972)
  • Thomas's Christmas Party (1984)
  • Thomas Comes to Breakfast (1985)
• Belinda the Beetle (1958) illustrated by Ionicus
• Belinda Beats the Band (1961) illustrated by John T. Kenney
• W V Awdry & G E V Awdry, The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, Kaye and Ward, 1986.

Non-fiction

• Our Child Begins to Pray (Edmund Ward, 1951)
• P J Long & W V Awdry, The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1987.
• Chris Cook and W V Awdry, Guide to the Steam Railways of Great Britain, Pelham Books, 1979.

Further reading

• Wilbert Vere Awdry from Dictionary of Literary Biography by M. Margaret Dahlberg, University of North Dakota. 2005–2006 Thomson Gale
• Sibley, Brian (2015). The Thomas the Tank Engine Man: The Life of Reverend W. Awdry (2nd ed.). Lion Books. ISBN 978-0-7459-7027-1.

External links

• Rev W Awdry's appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, first broadcast on 16 October 1964
• Awdry Family website
• 'Original' Awdry Family website at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 February 2006) – contains some information not available on the later site
• Sodor Enterprises (publishing company) at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 December 2007) – Formerly www.sodor.co.uk (Dead link discovered April 2010)
• Rev. W. V. Awdry – Biography at the official Awdry Family website
• The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales – Home of the Rev. W. V. Awdry's study
• "Obituary: The Rev W. Awdry", from The Independent, written by Brian Sibley
• "Priests and Prelates: The Daily Telegraph Clerical Obituaries" (Entry for Rev. W Awdry), by Trevor Beeson – Note: contains some factual errors.
• Daily Telegraph Obituary Archived 21 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine – on which "Priests and Prelates" is based; also contains errors
• David Self (1 February 2008). "What draws clerics to railways?". Church Times.