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W. (Willie) Riley (author) 1866 - 1961.

Early years
Willie Riley was born in Laisterdyke, Bradford on 23rd April 1866. His father Joseph was a Wool entrepreneur and held various mill management posts before establishing his own business in about 1880, manufacturing through contract weavers and by this time owning a warehouse in Bradford, with another place in Manchester, and agencies in London and Glasgow. The family moved several times in the Bradford area as Willie grew up. He attended Bradford Grammar School, but had to leave after the end of the fifth year, to join his father's business. Within two years of joining the family firm, Willie (to his great relief!) and his elder brother Herbert were redeployed by Joseph into his new enterprise, Riley Brothers Optical Lantern business, established in 1884. This business prospered; and Willie eventually became Managing Director of the firm. In his spare time Willie, from boyhood, greatly enjoyed visiting the surrounding beautiful moors and dales of the West Riding. He developed a lifelong love of these places, and the people who lived there. His family was Wesleyan, and like both his father and Herbert, he became a Methodist local preacher in 1887. In due course he led Men's Classes at his local Bradford Carlisle Road Chapel. He took on many responsibilities in Methodism, and preached widely across the West Riding circuits. He also lectured widely on Christianity, Yorkshire life, and Literary and cultural topics. He was fully occupied by his work, his church activities, and his interest in the city and country and people around him.

Personal life
In 1892 he married Clara Hirst, from nearby Morley. She was always to be delicate of health, but she supported her husband in his various activities. She urged him to make use of his undoubted literary skills, but, busy as he was, he declined to take up his pen. Then a chance observation of a fracas in Whitby in 1894, whilst they were on holiday there, led him to submit a report of what he saw to the Bradford Observer Budget newspaper. To his surprise it was promptly published; this (and Clara's urging) encouraged him to submit occasional short articles to the Wesleyan press over the next few years.

The writing of Windyridge
In 1909 tragedy struck the Bolton family with whom the Rileys were close friends. Father, mother and one daughter all died during that year, leaving two unmarried daughters bereft and lonely in the family home. Willie and Clara took their distraught friends under their wing, spending a lot of time together; and Willie decided to write a story to entertain them, reading it chapter by chapter to the sisters and Clara. Right from the start he decided to write the story from a woman's point of view. The three women laughed him to scorn, asserting that he - a mere male - couldn't keep it up. He gleefully accepted the challenge. With breaks due to holidays and work commitments he completed the book in late 1911. Then the ladies urged Willie to publish what they all declared to be an excellent novel. He took a lot of persuading but eventually agreed to send it to one publisher, chosen at random from a short list of four. The chosen publisher was Herbert Jenkins. Willie sent a typed copy of the story to Jenkins, who thought it was written by a woman; and after meeting Riley in London went ahead to publish Windyridge in September 1912, as the first ever book to come from Jenkins' new publishing house.

The reception of Windyridge
It became an immediate best-seller and was well received by the majority of critics. Jenkins now urged Willie to write a follow-up novel; and he had nearly completed his second book when the approach of the First World War brought his Optical Lantern business to near-collapse. The remnant of the firm was passed to a younger brother, and at the age of 48 Riley was forced by circumstance to attempt to forge a new career as a novelist. From 1915 he then published at least one book per year right up to 1946, by which time he was a remarkable 80 years old. In 1957 he published his autobiography, Sunset Reflections. He died at the age of 95 in June 1961, by which time he had completed a remarkable total of 39 books - an astonishing output, especially as he came to writing so late in his life. Windyridge stayed in print throughout his life, and sold some 500,000 copies, an outstanding achievement.

List of works
All fiction and published by Herbert Jenkins Ltd. except where otherwise stated.


 * Windyridge                   	 1912
 * Netherleigh 	              	 1915
 * Way of the Winepress 	      	 1916
 * Number Seven Brick Row	    	 1918
 * Olive of Sylcote 	      	 1918
 * Through a Yorkshire Window   	 1919
 * Jerry and Ben 	              	 1919
 * A Yorkshire Suburb 	      	 1920
 * The Lady of the Lawn		 1920
 * Men of Mawm		        1921
 * Rachael Bland's Inheritance	 1922
 * The Garden of Delight		 1923
 * Laycock of Lonedale		 1924
 * Peter Pettinger                1925
 * A Village in Craven 		 1925
 * Children of the Outcast	 1926
 * Late Harvest/Lord's Poor Brother 1927	[Plays]
 * Windyridge Revisited		 1928
 * Witch Hazel		        1928
 * Doctor Dick		        1929
 * Squire Goodall		        1930
 * Kit of Kit's Folly		 1931
 * The Silver Dale	        1932	[Topography]
 * Old Obbutt		        1933
 * Yorkshire Pennines       	 1934	[Topography]
 * Jack and John	  	         1935
 * The Man of Anathoth	        1936
 * Old Asa and other Stories	 1936	[Epworth Press]
 * The Sixpenny Man		 1937
 * Gold Chains		        1938
 * The Valley of Baca		 1939
 * The Voice in the Garden	 1940
 * Common Clay		        1941
 * Grapes from Thorns		 1943
 * A Stick for God	        1946
 * Services of Song		 1954	[Religion] [Epworth Press]
 * Sunset Reflections		 1957	[Autobiography]
 * In the Silver Dale 	        1958	[Topography] [Dalesman]
 * The Man and the Mountain	 1961