Francis Kilvert

Francis Kilvert (1840–1879) was the author of volumious private diaries describing rural life in the Victorian era. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford University, he became a rural Anglican curate, working primarily in the Welsh Marches. After his death, his frank and open diaries came into the possession of censorious relatives, and only three of the twenty or more volumes are known to have survived deliberate burning. These three volumes have since been used as the source for published collections. His Diaries are considered to be classics, and also of historical importance for the study of remote rural life and Victorian society.

Related Topics:
1840 - 1879 - Diaries - Victorian era - Wadham College - Oxford University - Anglican - Curate - Welsh Marches

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Poet William Plomer published the most widely-known selection of the diaries, as Kilvert's Diary, 1870-1879 (Penguin, 1938—corrected in the 1960s, and with an abridged and illustrated version for children published as Ardizzone's Kilvert in 1976). A somewhat different selection from that of Plomer was published as Journal of a Country Curate: Selections from the Diary of Francis Kilvert by The Folio Society in 1960. In 1992 a new selection was published under the editorship of David Lockwood, Kilvert, the Victorian: A New Selection from Kilvert's Diaries (Seren Books, 1992).

Related Topics:
William Plomer - Abridged - Ardizzone - The Folio Society

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The Cornish Diary: Journal No.4, 1870 - From July 19th to August 6th, Cornwall was published by Alison Hodge in 1989. The National Library of Wales, which holds one of the three surviving volumes, published The diary of Francis Kilvert: April-June 1870 in 1982.

Related Topics:
Cornish - Cornwall - National Library of Wales

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There was a John Betjeman BBC television documentary on Kilvert, shown in 1976 and titled Vicar Of This Parish. This led to Kilvert's Diary being dramatised (270 minutes or 390 minutes—sources differ) on British television between 1977 and 1978. The programmes are no longer available, and may have been lost.

Related Topics:
John Betjeman - BBC - 1976

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Kilvert's life was the loose basis for Mary Webb's novel Gone to Earth; a curate in the Welsh Marches falls in love at first sight with a fey half-gypsy girl. Webb's novel was filmed by Powell & Pressburger on location in the Welsh Marches as Gone to Earth (1950 in re-cut form, fully restored by the National Film Archive in 1985).

Related Topics:
Mary Webb - Powell & Pressburger - 1950 - National Film Archive - 1985

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