Wilbert Vere Awdry OBE (1911 - 1997)

Born 15 Jun 1911 in Romsey, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret (Wale) Awdry — married 1938 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England

Died 21 Mar 1997 at age 85 in Rodborough, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom

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Wilbert Vere Awdry OBE was the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Biography

Wilbert Awdry OBE was born in Romsey, Hampshire, England.

Wilbert Awdry OBE is Notable.

Wilbert Vere Awdry was born on 15 June 1911 to Vere Awdry and Lucy Louisa (Bury) Awdry at Ampfield vicarage near Romsey, Hampshire, England. ^[1] His father was the Anglican vicar of Ampfield; Wilbert became a Church of England vicar when he grew up.

The Awdry family moved to Box, Wiltshire, England in 1917 and within the town in 1919 and 1920. A young Wilbert listened to the steam locomotives in the Box Tunnel and was inspired to write the Railway Series books some 25 years later.

In 1938 Wilbert married Margaret Wale, ^[2] and the couple moved to Birmingham, where Wilbert took a curacy at St Nicolas Church, Kings Norton, where they lived until 1946. They moved to Cambridgeshire so that Wilbert could become Rector of Elsworth with Knapwell, then Rural Dean at Bourn, then another move when he became Vicar of Emneth, Norfolk. He retired in 1965 and moved to Rodborough in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.

His writing was first published in 1945 and continued until the 1980s. He received an OBE in 1996, shortly before his death in 1997 after a bout of ill health. ^[3] He was buried in Gloucester Crematorium, Gloucester, Gloucestershire.^[4]

Bibliography

• Fiction
  • The Railway Series books
  • 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)
  • The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, P J Long & W V Awdry, Alan Sutton Publishing, (1987)

Sources

1. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2FLN-LBG : 1 October 2014), Wilbert V Awdry, 1911; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, Winchester, Hampshire, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England.
2. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV8N-5JLW : 8 October 2014), Wilbert V Awdry and null, 1938; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1938, quarter 3, vol. 6C, p. 432, Worcester, Worcestershire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZD-1MS3 : 4 September 2014), Wilbert Vere Awdry, Mar 1997; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death Registration, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #15706278

See Also:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klsbzC9V0Yg
• Wikipedia Wilbert Awdry
• Wikidata: Item Q733698, en:Wikipedia
• Wikipedia Thomas the Tank Engine