W.V. Awdry
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The Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE, (June 15 1911 – March 21 1997) was a clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author, best known as the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Awdry was born in Romsey, Hampshire in 1911. The son of a clergyman, he was himself ordained to the Anglican priesthood in 1936. In 1938 he married Margaret Wale, and two years later took a parish in King's Norton, Birmingham where he lived until 1965.
The characters that would make Awdry famous, and the first stories featuring them, were invented in 1942 to amuse his son Christopher during a bout of measles. The first book (The Three Railway Engines) was published in 1945, and by the time Awdry stopped writing in 1972, The Railway Series numbered 26 books. Christopher subsequently added a further 14 books to the series.
Awdry's enthusiasm for railways did not stop at his publications. He was involved in railway preservation, and built model railways which he took to exhibitions around the country. He retired from the clergy in 1965, and moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Wilbert Awdry was awarded an OBE in the 1996 New Year’s Honours List, but by the time his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London. He died in peacefully in Stroud, Gloucestershire on March 21 1997, at the age of 85.
Biography
A biography entitled The Thomas the Tank Engine Man was written by Brian Sibley and published in 1995.External link
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