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| - He was the earliest author for the Railway Series and created faceless models of the characters. He is the father of Christopher Awdry.
- Awdry was born in Romsey, Hampshire in 1911. The son of Lucy and Vere Awdry, he was educated at Dauntseys School, West Lavington, Wiltshire; St. Peter's Hall, Oxford (Bachelor of Arts, 1932) and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained into the Anglican priesthood in 1936. In 1938 he married Margaret Wale and two years later took a curacy in King's Norton, Birmingham where he lived until 1946. He subsequently moved to Cambridgeshire, serving as Rector of Elsworth with Knapwell, 1946-53 and Vicar of Emneth, 1953-65. He retired from full-time ministry in 1965 and moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire.
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| abstract
| - He was the earliest author for the Railway Series and created faceless models of the characters. He is the father of Christopher Awdry.
- Awdry was born in Romsey, Hampshire in 1911. The son of Lucy and Vere Awdry, he was educated at Dauntseys School, West Lavington, Wiltshire; St. Peter's Hall, Oxford (Bachelor of Arts, 1932) and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained into the Anglican priesthood in 1936. In 1938 he married Margaret Wale and two years later took a curacy in King's Norton, Birmingham where he lived until 1946. He subsequently moved to Cambridgeshire, serving as Rector of Elsworth with Knapwell, 1946-53 and Vicar of Emneth, 1953-65. He retired from full-time ministry in 1965 and moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire. The characters that would make Awdry famous and the first stories featuring them, were invented in 1942 to amuse his son Christopher during a bout of measles at the age of two and a half. After he wrote The Three Railway Engines Christopher wanted a model of Gordon; however that was too difficult. Instead, Awdry made a model of a tank engine from odds and ends and painted it blue and gave it to Christopher as a Christmas present. Christopher christened the model engine Thomas. Then Christopher requested stories about Thomas and these duly followed and were published in the famous book Thomas the Tank Engine published in 1946. The first book, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945. After Thomas the Tank Engine, Awdry was finished with writing any more books. However, due to popular demand and children wanting a book about James, the engine who Thomas saved in the last story, he agreed to write more stories. By the time Awdry stopped writing in 1972, The Railway Series numbered 26 books. Christopher subsequently added sixteen more books to the series. Awdry's enthusiasm for railways did not stop at his publications. He was involved in railway preservation and built model railways which he took to exhibitions around the country. Awdry wrote other books besides those of the Railway Series, both fiction and non-fiction, such as the story "Belinda the Beetle", which was about a red car and the parenting guide "Our Child Begins to Pray". In 1957, Wilbert narrated the first two stories from The Three Railway Engines for a vinyl record release. He was a guest on The Flying Scotsman's 40th Anniversary run and gave a short interview for its BBC documentary in 1968. He was later interviewed along with Ringo Starr on TV-AM on the day of the television series' debut. Two years later he was profiled in a BBC Radio 4 program by Brian Sibley, who would eventually go on to write his biography. In 1988, his second Ffarquhar model railway layout was shown to the public for the final time and was featured on an ITN News news item. He was again featured on TV-AM for Thomas' 40th Anniversary in 1990. In 1994 he was featured on BBC Two's Lucinda Lambton's Alphabet of Britain, but the same year he was not enthusiastic about repeating his work and legacy once again in a television interview for Australia by WIN's Sixty Seconds team. The following year, he gave no protest whilst being interviewed by Nicholas Jones for The Thomas the Tank Engine Man documentary, first aired on 25th February, 1995 and repeated again on 15th April, 1997 shortly after his death. Wilbert Awdry was awarded an Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year’s Honours List, but by that time his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London. He passed away peacefully in Stroud, Gloucestershire on 21st March, 1997 at the age of 85. Prior to his death he served as Allcroft's technical consultant. His daughter Veronica Chambers currently lives in his house. A British Rail Class 91 locomotive, 91 124, formerly carried his name. Wilbert is also named after him.
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