Dates

• Existence: 1892 - 1980
• Usage: 1925 - 1980

Biography

Arthur Eaglestone was born in Parkgate, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, in 1892. His father had a soft drinks business, which the young Arthur worked in after he left school at the age of 13. After a short while in the family business, Arthur spent 12 years employed in a steel works, followed by several years as a timekeeper in the underground office of New Stubbin Colliery. While he was working there, he wrote “From a pitman’s notebook”, which was published in 1925 under the pseudonym Roger Dataller. On the strength of this, Arthur Eaglestone won a Miners’ Welfare Scholarship to New College, Oxford, which he attended as a student from 1928-1931.

After leaving Oxford with a BLitt degree, Eaglestone returned to South Yorkshire to work first of all for the WEA as a lecturer in English literature, and then as a staff tutor for the Extramural Department of the University of Sheffield. During this time he pursued a writing career, producing works of fiction, drama, literary criticism and history, as well as two further autobiographical works. He wrote many short stories and articles for newspapers, and some scripts for radio broadcasts. For a number of years he served as President of the Association of Yorkshire Bookmen.

After retirement in 1957, Arthur Eaglestone published a book on the history of Rockingham pottery, co-written with his son-in-law. He also worked on a further autobiography called “A Yorkshire Lad”, but this was never published. He died in 1980.

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