Eight letters and two postcards from Edmund Blunden to Billy Maddock
Comprises:
- (fols. 1-4) Letters from Cleave's, Yalding, Kent, dated 2 Jan 1931, 6 Feb 1931, 1 Oct 1931 and 5 Jan 1932.
- (fols. 5-6) Letters from 19 Woodstock Close, Oxford, dated 17 Sep 1933 and 24 Jan 1939.
- (fol. 7) Printed poem, 'The Two Books', Christmas 1941.
- (fol. 8) Letter addressed c/o Rupert Hart-Davis Esq., 36 Soho Square, W1, 1 Aug 1957.
- (fols. 9-10) Postcards from Hong Kong, 5 Jan 1958 and 5 Jan 1964.
- (fol. 11) Printed biography of Llywelyn William (Billy) Maddock (1898-1988) by Andrew Ellis.
Dates
- Creation: 1931-1964
Extent
11 Leaves
Language of Materials
- English
Preferred Citation
Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. Miscellaneous 3, fols. 1-11].
Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.
Shelfmark:
MS. Miscellaneous 3, fols. 1-11
Collection ID (for staff)
CMD ID 24082
Abstract
Eight letters and two postcards from Edmund Blunden to Billy Maddock, 1931-1964.
Biographical / Historical
Edmund Charles Blunden (1896-1974), poet and university teacher, served as an officer in the First World War.
For more information see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Llywelyn William (Billy) Maddock (1898-1988) was born in New Zealand to Llywelyn Maddock, photographer and Kandy branch manager of the Colombo Apothecaries Company, Ceylon, and Emma Brownlow King (d.1905), daughter of the Foundling Hospital artist Emma Brownlow. The family moved to England in 1902 but following Emma's death Billy's father returned to Ceylon and Billy was brought up in Newport by his grandmother Mary Jane Maddock and educated in boarding schools in Monmouth and Elstow, Bedfordshire.
Maddock served in the Monmouthshire Regiment during the First World War. After the war, he became a publisher's representative before becoming manager of the Fleet Street branch of W & G Foyle Ltd and editor of their inhouse magazine in 1927.
In August 1927, Maddock married Margaret Hailstone (d.1975) of Hadlow, sister of the portrait artist Bernard Hailstone and the cartoonist Harold Hailstone. They had four children.
In 1937, Maddock became a representative for Penguin Books. The Board of Trade appointed him as Senior Technical Adviser for Paper Control in 1942, a post he held until 1950. In 1942, he was also appointed by the National Pigeon Service as an adviser to the police and an authorised issuer of pigeon transit labels.
Maddock briefly worked at Hutchinson before becoming Evan Bros' representative in the South West until 1964 when he moved to Bath. On his retirement, Maddock and his wife moved to New Zealand where their son lived. After Margaret's death in 1975, Maddock briefly returned to Somerset before moving to British Columbia, Canada where their daughter lived and where he died in 1988.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifted to the Bodleian Library by Judith Creyke, daughter of Billy Maddock, 2025.
Topical
Creator
- Title
- Catalogue of eight letters and two postcards from Edmund Blunden to Billy Maddock
- Status
- Published
- Author
- Rachael Marsay
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Catalogued with the generous support of the Roy Davids bequest.
- Edition statement
- First edition
Repository Details
Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk