A. G. Street
Encyclopedia
Arthur George Street who wrote under the name of A. G. Street, was an English
farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber
. His best known book was Farmer's Glory, describing his time in Canada
and how he returned to Wiltshire
.
, near Salisbury
, where he eventually took over the tenancy. He was educated at Dauntsey's School
, where agriculture was part of the curriculum, and left school in 1907 at the age of sixteen. He then spent some years learning farming from his father. He later wrote that
Next, Street spent some years working on a farm in Canada, arriving in Winnipeg
in 1910. There he learnt a more expansive form of agriculture than he knew at home.
First of all a working farmer, Street began to try his hand at writing as a way to supplement his farm income when it was severely reduced by prices falling during the great agricultural depression
of the 1920s and 1930s. He continued to farm after he became a popular author. He portrayed farm life in the south of England without idealizing it, and his use of dialect
strengthens his imagery of rural life. His books were mainly light fiction, often based on the Wiltshire
farming community and to some degree autobiographical. His book Strawberry Roan was turned into a film. A critical work of 2006 brackets him with George Sturt
, Adrian Bell
, Henry Williamson
, W. H. Hudson, H. J. Massingham
, H. V. Morton, Constance Holme
and Mary Webb
.
He was also a prolific radio broadcaster, appearing on The Brains Trust
and many other BBC radio
programmes, and a member of the Empire Poetry League
.
During the Second World War, he was a member of the Home Guard, on one occasion joining the chase for a missing German parachutist.
Street is himself the subject of a radio programme by the poet Sean Street.
founded Hillcroft College
.
His daughter Pamela Street was an author and poet and wrote a biography
of Street, My Father A. G. Street (1969).
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
. His best known book was Farmer's Glory, describing his time in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and how he returned to Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
.
Life and work
The son of a Wiltshire tenant farmer, Street was born at Ditchampton Farm, Wilton, WiltshireWilton, Wiltshire
Wilton is a town in Wiltshire, , England, with a rich heritage dating back to the Anglo-Saxons. Today it is dwarfed by its larger and more famous neighbour, Salisbury, but still has a range of notable shops and attractions, including Wilton House.The confluence of the rivers Wylye and Nadder is at...
, near Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, where he eventually took over the tenancy. He was educated at Dauntsey's School
Dauntsey's School
Dauntsey's School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. The School was founded in 1542, in accordance with the will of William Dauntesey, a master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers....
, where agriculture was part of the curriculum, and left school in 1907 at the age of sixteen. He then spent some years learning farming from his father. He later wrote that
Next, Street spent some years working on a farm in Canada, arriving in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
in 1910. There he learnt a more expansive form of agriculture than he knew at home.
First of all a working farmer, Street began to try his hand at writing as a way to supplement his farm income when it was severely reduced by prices falling during the great agricultural depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1920s and 1930s. He continued to farm after he became a popular author. He portrayed farm life in the south of England without idealizing it, and his use of dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
strengthens his imagery of rural life. His books were mainly light fiction, often based on the Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
farming community and to some degree autobiographical. His book Strawberry Roan was turned into a film. A critical work of 2006 brackets him with George Sturt
George Sturt
George Sturt , who also wrote under the pseudonym George Bourne, was an English writer on rural crafts and affairs. He was born and grew up in Farnham, Surrey....
, Adrian Bell
Adrian Bell
Adrian Bell was an English journalist and farmer, who was the first compiler of The Times crossword.-Life:The son of a newspaper editor, he was born in London and educated at Uppingham School in Rutland...
, Henry Williamson
Henry Williamson
Henry William Williamson was an English naturalist, farmer and prolific author known for his natural and social history novels. He won the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 with his book Tarka the Otter....
, W. H. Hudson, H. J. Massingham
H. J. Massingham
Harold John Massingham was a prolific British writer on matters to do with the countryside and agriculture. He was also a published poet.-Life:...
, H. V. Morton, Constance Holme
Constance Holme
Edith Constance Holme , married name Punchard, was an English writer and playwright. She was born in Milnthorpe, Westmorland , the youngest of fourteen children...
and Mary Webb
Mary Webb
Mary Webb , was an English romantic novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people which she knew. Her novels have been successfully dramatized, most notably the film Gone to Earth in 1950 by Michael...
.
He was also a prolific radio broadcaster, appearing on The Brains Trust
The Brains Trust
The Brains Trust was a popular informational BBC radio and later television programme in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 50s.- History :...
and many other BBC radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
programmes, and a member of the Empire Poetry League
Empire Poetry League
The Empire Poetry League was a British-based organisation founded in 1917, with effective existence of about 15 years. Initially having a patriotic impetus, and counting some literary figures The Empire Poetry League was a British-based organisation founded in 1917, with effective existence of...
.
During the Second World War, he was a member of the Home Guard, on one occasion joining the chase for a missing German parachutist.
Street is himself the subject of a radio programme by the poet Sean Street.
Family
Street's sister Dorothea Street was also an author, her children's book The Dog-Leg Garden being published in 1951. His sister Fanny StreetFanny Street
Fanny Street was Acting Principal of Royal Holloway College, University of London from 1944-1945. Her brother was Arthur George Street author of Farmer's Glory.-Education:...
founded Hillcroft College
Hillcroft College
Hillcroft College is a residential adult education college for women, located in Surbiton area of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in South London, England, ....
.
His daughter Pamela Street was an author and poet and wrote a biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Street, My Father A. G. Street (1969).
Books
Street's books include the following, with year of publication:- Farmer's Glory (1932)
- Strawberry Roan (1932)
- Country Days: a series of broadcast talks (1933)
- Land Everlasting (1934)
- Thinking Aloud (1934)
- The Endless Furrow (1934)
- Country Calendar (1935)
- Farming - how to begin (1935)
- To be a Farmers Boy (1935)
- The Gentlemen of The Party (1936)
- MoonRaking (1936)
- Farming England (1937)
- Already Walks To-Morrow (1938)
- Hedge Trimmings (1938)
- A Year of My Life (1939)
- A Crook in the Furrow (1940)
- Round the Year on a Farm (1941)
- Wessex Wins (1941)
- Harvest by Lamplight (1941)
- From Dusk to Dawn (1942)
- Hitler's Whistle (1943)
- Ditchampton Farm (1946)
- Holdfast (1946)
- England today in Pictures (1949)
- Landmarks (1949)
- In His own Country (1950)
- Wheat and Chaff (1950)
- Shameful Harvest (1952)
- Feather Bedding (1954)
- Kittle Cattle (1954)
- Master of None (1956)
- Sweetacres (1956)
- Bobby Bocker (1957)
- Coopers Crossing (1962)
- Fair Enough (1962), writing as "James Brian"
- Fish and Chips (1964)
- Johnny Cowslip (1964)
Other work
Street also wrote many newspaper and magazine articles and contributed to travel and other books, including:- Essay in English Country: Fifteen Essays by Various Authors (1934, ed. H. J. MassinghamH. J. MassinghamHarold John Massingham was a prolific British writer on matters to do with the countryside and agriculture. He was also a published poet.-Life:...
, with H. E. BatesH. E. BatesHerbert Ernest Bates, CBE , better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.-Early life:...
, Edmund BlundenEdmund BlundenEdmund Charles Blunden, MC was an English poet, author and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was also a reviewer for English publications and an academic in Tokyo and later Hong Kong...
, W. H. DaviesW. H. DaviesWilliam Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time...
, Vita Sackville-WestVita Sackville-WestThe Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH , best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933...
, and John Collier) - ForewordForewordA foreword is a piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells...
to Dorothy HartleyDorothy HartleyDorothy Rosaman Hartley was an English social historian, illustrator, and author. Daughter of a clergyman, she studied art, which she later taught. Her interest in history led her into writing...
's The Countryman's England (1935) - Essay in Britain and the Beast (1937, with J. M. Keynes, John Moore, E. M. ForsterE. M. ForsterEdward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
, Clough Williams-EllisClough Williams-EllisSir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was an English-born Welsh architect known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.-Origins, education and early career:...
and H. J. Massingham) - 'This Bloody Sport' in The London Mercury and Bookman (1938), pp. 139-143
- 'Farm Cottages and Post-War Farming' in Design for Britain (E. C. Fairchild, 1942)
- 'Work and Wages: A Farmer's View', in New English Review, Vol. 12 (1946), pp. 241-249
- 'The Inner History of Camping' in A book of modern prose (ed. Margaret Flower, 1951)