Sid Chaplin, 1916-1986 - A Celebration
Following the acquisition and cataloguing of the Sid Chaplin papers, the Robinson Library is mounting an exhibition until December 1999 to celebrate his work and life. The papers which cover the dates 1930-1990, were kindly deposited by the Chaplin family in 1997 and have recently been catalogued.
Sid Chaplin
The exhibition of some of the many papers of Sid Chaplin is
intended to reflect the diversity of his work and appeal and
to open Sid Chaplin's work to a new audience.
Sidney Chaplin was born on 20 September 1916 in Shildon, Co.
Durham. In 1930 he commenced work in a bakery, but by 1931
was working at the Dean and Chapter Colliery in Ferryhill and
became an apprentice to a colliery blacksmith in 1932.
In 1939 Sid won a scholarship to the Fircroft Working Men's
College, Birmingham, but with the commencement of the Second
World War, he returned to mining, working down the pit as a
miner at the coal face.
He married in 1941 to Irene
Rutherford, living in Co. Durham until Sid was offered a post
as feature writer on the National Coal Board's publication
Coal, when they moved to Essex. In 1957 he was offered a new
post as Public Relations Officer for the Coal Board, based in
Newcastle upon Tyne where he lived until his death, having
retired in 1972 to concentrate on his writing career. In 1975
he had a heart by-pass operation at Shotley Bridge Hospital,
Co. Durham from which he recovered sufficiently to resume his
writing and produced two more published volumes of short
stories before his untimely death in January 1986.
Initially Sid Chaplin wrote between mining shifts and would
often write through the night to create the perfect piece of
writing. By May 1941 this had paid off with the publication
of 'A Widow Wept' in Penguin New Writing, edited by John
Lehmann. More poems and stories were published in contemporary
literary magazines, leading to a compilation of short stories,
The Leaping Lad (1946), published by Phoenix House, which won
the Atlantic Award in Literature in 1946. Novels, short
stories and articles followed and he was a contributor to
local and national newspapers and other publications
throughout his life.
He received an Honorary Master of Arts from the University of
Newcastle upon Tyne, 1978, an Honorary Fellowship from
Sunderland University, 1977 and an OBE in 1977 for his
services to the arts and especially for his work at Northern
Arts.
| Click on an image for a larger version and more information | ||
 |
 |
 |
