The Hilltop Writers
A Victorian Colony among the Surrey Hills
Literary Heritage around Haslemere
by W.R. (Bob) Trotter
Published by The Book Guild ISBN 1-85776-108-1
price £15
New illustrated edition published in 2003
Index to the 65 names featured in the book
Some Highlights:
- Charles Darwin’s cousin dies in Grayshott
- Bertrand Russell falls in love in Fernhurst
- Disgraced London society hostess starts a home for deprived
children in Hindhead
- Astronomical observatory built underneath the
Devil’s Jumps near Churt
Review
These are some of the many fascinating and sometimes surprising pieces of
information contained in Bob Trotter’s new book ‘The Hilltop Writers
a Victorian colony among the Surrey Hills,’ which reveals the lives of
65 local Victorian writers.
Mr Trotter discovered in the archives of Haslemere Museum a remarkable
collection of notes and newspaper cuttings left by local journalist
William Sillick, who died in 1955. It made him realise what an astounding
flurry of important literary activity there had been in the neighbourhood
of Haslemere during the fifty years or more following the arrival of the
railway in 1859, and from this the book was conceived.
Some of the writers he deals with are well-knownpeople such as Alfred
Tennyson, George Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle and George Bernard Shaw.
Others less so, but equally fascinating. Collectively they came to this
area for similar reasonsfor the beauty and health offered by the wild
and, as then, uninhabited uplands, now for the first time within easy reach
of London. And for similar reasons they leftwhen too many people had
followed their example and the place began to become more populated!
The book is organised into four main sections: a brief local chronology from
1859 through to the start of the First World War; a short discussion of the
politics and other issues in vogue during the period; biographical notes on
each of the writers; and an appendix of references and other more general
notes, including a superb 20-page index.
It is a pleasure to read. Bob Trotter has not only encapsulated the
essentials of these people’s lives in his pages, but also given us the
benefit of his medical training to add his own fascinating personal comments.
And in these days of generally slap-dash editing, it is nice for once to
find a book where so much care and attention has obviously been taken in
checking presentation and content before publication.
This book is required reading for anyone interested in local historyit
will certainly become one of the better-used items on my reference shelf.
John Owen SmithAugust 1996
Index to 65 entries in 'The Hilltop Writers'
- ALLEN Charles Grant Blairfindie 1848-1899
- ALLINGHAM William 1824-1889
- BARING-GOULD Rev Sabine 1834-1924
- BEVERIDGE Annette Susannah (née AKROYD) 1842-1929
- BLOUNT Godfrey 1859-1937 & Ethel (née HINE) d. 1943
- BROWN George Douglas 1869-1902
- BUCKTON George Bowdler FRS 1818-1905
- BURROUGHS John 1837-1921
- CARRINGTON Richard Christopher FRS 1826-1875
- COSTELLOE Benjamin Francis Conn (‘Frank’) 1855-1899
&
STRACHEY Rachel Conn (‘Ray’) (née COSTELLOE)
- DAKYNS Henry Graham 1839-1911
- DOYLE Sir Arthur Conan 1859-1930
- ELIOT George (Marian EVANS) later Mrs Cross 1819-1880
- GALTON Sir Francis FRS 1822-1911
- GARNETT Lucy Mary Jane
- GILCHRIST Anne (née BURROWS) 1828-1885
- HAMILTON Bernard
- HARRISON Frederic 1831-1923
- HOLL Henry 1811-1884
- HOPKINS Manley 1818-1897
- HUNTER Sir Robert 1844-1913
- HUTCHINSON Sir Jonathan 1828-1913
- KER David 1841-1914
- KING Joseph MP 1860-1943
- KING Maude Egerton (née HINE) 1867-1927
- LE GALLIENNE Richard 1866-1947
- LEWIS George Henry 1817-1878
- MANGLES James Henry 1832-1884
- METHUEN Sir Algernon Methuen Marshall, Bt (né STEDMAN) 1856-1924
- MURRAY George Gilbert 1866-1957
- NETTLESHIP Edward FRS 1845-1913
- NEVILL Lady Dorothy (née WALPOLE) 1826-1913
- OLIPHANT Mrs Margaret (née WILSON) 1818-1897
- PINERO Sir Arthur Wing 1855-1934
- POLLOCK Sir Frederick, 3rd Bt 1845-1937
- PONSONBY Arthur Augustus William Harry, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede 1871-1946
- ROGERSON Mrs Christina (‘Chrissie’) Adelaide Ethel Athanasia (née STEWART) later STEEVENS c.1839-1911
- ROSSETTI Christina 1830-1894
- RUSSELL Lady Mary Agatha 1853-1933
- RUSSELL Bertrand Arthur William, 3rd Earl Russell 1872-1970
- RUSSELL Hon Francis Albert Rollo 1849-1914
- SALVIN Osbert FRS 1835-1898
- SHAW George Bernard 1856-1950
- SMITH Hannah (née WHITALL) 1832-1911
- SMITH Lloyd Logan Pearsall 1865-1946
- STORR Rayner 1835-1917
- SWANTON Ernest William 1870-1958
- TENNYSON Alfred, 1st Baron Tennyson 1809-1892
- TENNYSON Lady Emily (née SELLWOOD) 1813-1896
- TENNYSON Hallam, 2nd Baron Tennyson 1852-1928
- THOMPSON Flora Jane (née TIMMS) 1876-1947
- TYNDALL John FRS 1820-1893
- WALES Hubert (pseudonym of William PIGGOTT) 1870-1943
- WARD Mrs Mary Augusta (née ARNOLD) [generally known as ‘Mrs Humphry Ward’] 1851-1920
- WEBB Sidney James, 1st Baron Passfield 1859-1947
&
WEBB Martha Beatrice (née POTTER) 1858-1943
- WELLS Herbert George 1866-1946
- WESTON Dame Agnes Elizabeth 1840-1918
- WHITE Montagu d.1916
- WHITEWAY Richard Stephen JP d.1926
- WHYMPER Edward 1840-1911
- WOLSELEY Garnet Joseph, 1st Viscount Wolseley 1833-1913
- WRIGHT Thomas 1859-1936
See also other local history books of this
area
Return to Home Page