Ref Number: 00497
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Priestley was born on 13 September 1894 and lived on the Island off and on for over 26 years commencing at Billingham Manor.
Ref Number: 00497
J.B. Priestley, originally named John Priestley, was born on September 13th, 1894 in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was the son of a schoolmaster. The individual experienced the loss of his biological mother during his early childhood, thereafter being raised by his stepmother.
Upon his departure from Belle Vue School at the age of 16, he began employment in a wool office. However, driven by his aspiration to pursue a career in writing, he allocated his diligently earned funds towards purchasing books and dedicated his free time to experimenting with various forms of writing. This included contributing a recurring column to the Bradford Pioneer, a local periodical, without receiving any monetary compensation. The Archive in the Special Collections of the J.B. Priestley Library at the University of Bradford houses preserved examples of his early written works. The initial work of his professional writing career was an essay titled “Secrets of the Rag-Time King,” which was published in London Opinion on December 14th, 1912.
Priestley enlisted in the military in September of 1914 and subsequently rendered five years of service in both England and France. After the war he became a student Trinity College Cambridge where he graduated in two years.
He went on to pen numerous books, plays and articles during his long writing career in 1933, the author relocated to the Isle of Wight, where he took up residence at Billingham Manor.
Subsequently, he relocated to Brook Hill House, during the war years he moved to Canada but came back to the island until 1959 when he returned to the mainland.
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