Papers of Henry Treece

This small collection of material relating to Henry Treece includes the original manuscripts of 'The Dream-Time', notes and script of his last lecture entitled 'Perception and Vision', and 54 letters from Treece to Antony Kamm, his editor at the Brockhampton Press

Born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, in 1911 Henry Treece won a scholarship to read English at Birmingham University, from which he graduated in 1933. Apart from wartime service as an intelligence officer in the RAF, he spent the next 25 years as an English teacher in various places including Tynemouth and, from September 1938, at the Grammar School in Barton-on-Humber in Lincolnshire. He started to produce poetry in the late 1930s, and was joint leader (with JF Hendry) of a movement called the New Apocalypse, associated principally with Dylan Thomas. Apart from his own poetry (published by Fortune Press and then Faber & Faber) he also edited anthologies such as The white horseman (1944). In the early 1950s Treece moved to prose writing, including plays and novels, but principally stories for children, beginning with Legions of the Eagle (1954). A heart condition forced him to retire from teaching in 1959 to concentrate on his writing. He regularly gave public lectures, the last being on the topic of 'Perception and vision' at Hull's Regional College of Arts and Crafts on 1 June 1966. He died of a heart attack on 10 June having just completed his last work 'The Dream-Time' (published posthumously in 1967). His numerous publications included seven volumes of poetry and 35 books for children.

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

Jenny Treece-Jorup and Richard Treece, all enquiries to Andrew Hewson, John Johnson Ltd, Clerkenwell House, 45/47 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0HT (tel. 071 251 0125)

Donated by Antony Kamm [Editor in Chief, Brockhampton Press 1960-1972], Clackmannanshire, 23 Sep 1993