Waddington-Feather Collection

Archive reference: WAD

John Waddington-Feather

The Rev. John Waddington-Feather was an Anglican priest, educationalist and writer, born in Keighley, West Yorkshire in 1933. He read English and Medieval Literature at Leeds University, graduating in 1954. His published works included novels, poetry, drama and academic papers. He taught in several schools and at the University of Khartoum; his ministry was mainly been in prisons. John died on 28 April 2017. Find out more about John's fascinating life and works in our obituary: Remembering JWF.

The Book Collection

The Waddington-Feather book collection includes an extensive collection of John's own writings. You can find out more about his books for children and adults via this article in our 100 Objects exhibition: Quill the Hedgehog and the Keighley Detectives.

Other books include poems, plays and tales in dialect by authors such as Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, Frederic Moorman and John Hartley, plus scholarly and popular works about the Yorkshire dialects. Individual dialects covered include Sheffield, Halifax and the East Riding. The Collection also contains works on other dialects (Lancashire, Devon) and more general works about the history and development of the English language.

The Archive

The Archive consists mainly of works by John Waddington-Feather, including his poetry from 1950 onwards, his notes on Yorkshire dialects, journal articles and short sermons. It also includes material relating to writers published by his imprint, Feather Books, notably Susan, Caroline and Sir Anthony Glyn, and Walter Nash.

Further information about the Archive is available as a collection-level entry on the Library catalogue. Please note that the collection is not fully catalogued, so access is limited at present.