Kenneth Grahame

Born in 1859, his mother died when he was five and he was brought up by his grandmother. He desperately wanted to attend Oxford University but lack of funds meant he took a job at the Bank of England.

Grahame first came to Fowey in 1899, staying at the Fowey Hotel whilst convalescing from pneumonia. Here he became friends with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (Q), who introduced him to life in Fowey, he also married Elspeth Thompson in St Fimbarrus Church in the same year. Although the marriage was a somewhat unhappy one their only child Alaistair was born in 1900. Alaistair, who was blind in one eye, was doted on by his parents and affectionately known as Mouse.

Throughout his marriage Grahame often sought refuge in Fowey spending much time with Q and on the river. It was during these visits that he wrote to Mouse with his tales of the river bank, these letters (written on the letterhead paper of the Fowey Hotel) and other bedtime stories were to make up' The Wind in the Willows'.

It is thought that Fowey influenced these tales along with the time he spent on the Thames as a child. Fowey is considered to be the little grey seaport while there are suggestions that the creek at Lerryn is the home of the water rat and that the woods on the shore are the Wild Wood. 'The Wind in the Willows' was published in 1908 following which Grahame retired from the bank.

Not only did Grahame have a sad marriage but tragedy was to befall the marriage when Mouse died in 1920. He was in his second year at Oxford when he died on a railway line, it is thought that he took his own life. The death of Mouse left Grahame a broken man and he died in 1932.

His book still sells thousands of copies a year even 90 years after it was first published.

His works include:
1893 Pagan Papers
1895 The Golden Age
1898 Dream Days
1898 The Headswoman
1908 The Wind in the Willows