hARRY BEDDINGTON1901 - 1986
His published books were written almost entirely in Forest dialect. A regular correspondent in The Dean Forest Mercury newspaper, and a lifelong resident of Cinderford, he was a great commentator on contemporary life, and a skilled humourist. His work paints a rich picture of Forest life, full of local characters who are never quite as daft as they first seem. He was an active member of the town’s Mintec drama society and wrote several plays. An engaging performer he appeared on BBC radio and can be heard on two albums. He was also a keen amateur artist, illustrating some of his books. He also wrote several, as yet unpublished, children’s stories. |
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LIFE & CAREERHenry John Beddington was born in Ruspidge, Cinderford on 29th May 1901 with a twin sister, the last two of fourteen brothers and sisters. His father, also Henry, was a coal miner, and both he and Harry’s mum, Louisa, were themselves from the Cinderford area. Harry’s first job was at Wadeson & Bradstock solicitors in Cinderford. Mr Bradstock was Clerk to the East Dean School Board, work that Harry helped him with, officially taking over the role after Mr Bradstock’s death in 1927. In 1928 Harry married Mildred Weale, (they’d met at a dance on Mildred’s sixteenth birthday) and soon moved to Cinderford’s Wesley Road, opposite The Miner’s Welfare Hall. They later moved to a house at the top of Belle Vue Road, number 119, with views out over the woodlands and on the horizon the hills of South Wales.
At the outbreak of WWII Harry had been training to be an architect but interrupted by the war that aspiration came to an end. His occupation was reserved, and he was almost blind in one eye due to an accident as a boy, so was unable to sign up for military service, joining instead the local Civil Defence. It was around this time that he started writing for local drama groups - his play, Footing the Bill, winning a prize at the very first Cheltenham Festival in 1944. The play was written entirely in Forest dialect, something he became expert at writing in for both poetry and prose. He went on to write plays for, and perform with, the Mintec (Mining Technical College) Players – including taking the role of a vicar in one play. In a 1950 production of Devonshire Cream (a play by Eden Phillpotts) Harry co-produced as well as taking on the role of Billy Blee. He also became a regular contributor to the columns of the local newspaper the Dean Forest Mercury newspaper. In one brilliant example he reports on reaction to Dennis Potter’s television play A Beast with Two Backs (1968), filmed on location in the Forest of Dean: The small group which meets regularly at the corner of the new shops had been considerably augmented and I was hailed imperiously – “Hey Arry, come tha’ over ‘ere” and was faced with the general question “What dids’t thou think o’ thic play o’ Potter’s?” Through his drama, performance and writing he became something of a local celebrity. He appeared on radio, including being interviewed for Down Your Way with Brian Johnston, and was once asked to translate a bible passage into Forest dialect for a television feature. In 1981 he featured on the album Forest Talk alongside fellow writers and performers Winifred Foley and Keith Morgan, and musical writer and performer Dick Brice. Harry also appeared as narrator on the cassette album A Quat An A Chat in 1984. His book Forest of Dean Humour (1961) ran into several editions, much of its content later appearing alongside that of Forest Acorns (1963) in the 1977 work Forest Humour. In 1965 he listed his other interests as ‘writing of full-length children’s stories, sketching, reading – and – just wandering’. After the death of his wife in 1981 he moved to be nearer his son Roy in Lincolnshire, where he passed away in 1986.
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Listen...By kind permission of Harry Beddington literary estate, and Doug McLean.
booksPoetry & Prose
Forest of Dean Humour (1961) Forest Acorns; A Forester's Comments on Things in General (c1962) Forest Humour (1977) dramaFooting the Bill: A Farce in One Act (1946)
Talking Turkeys (1950, unpublished) Homespun (1950s? unpublished) Limbo (1959, unpublished) rECORDINGSForest Talk: An Evening of Songs, Poetry and Humour From The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (1981)
A Quat An A Chat (1984) Harry also recorded several editions of Hospital Roundabout, and Cotswold Roundabout 1962-70. Copies of these are held by Gloucestershire Archives. He was also recorded for BBC Radio programmes. AN EVENING OF...
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Sources
Roy Beddington, personal communication, letter, 30th March 2015
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA),
Eileen Beddington, personal communication, phone, 30th April 2015
Portrait of Cinderella: A Year in the Life of a Forest Town (1965) compiled by Bilson Women’s Institute
Footing the Bill: A Farce in Forest of Dean Dialect (1946), Harry Beddington.
Gloucester Citizen, 22nd Nov, 1950, page 8.
Gloucester Citizen, 19th Dec 1950, page 2.
Roy Beddington, personal communication, letter, 30th March 2015
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA),
Eileen Beddington, personal communication, phone, 30th April 2015
Portrait of Cinderella: A Year in the Life of a Forest Town (1965) compiled by Bilson Women’s Institute
Footing the Bill: A Farce in Forest of Dean Dialect (1946), Harry Beddington.
Gloucester Citizen, 22nd Nov, 1950, page 8.
Gloucester Citizen, 19th Dec 1950, page 2.
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