James Prior

 7th March 2024 James Prior Ailish D’Arcy

Ailish gave us a talk on James Prior, Bingham’s forgotten author. She explained that James had been born in Nottingham but adopted Bingham as his home from 1891 until his death in 1922. His father had wanted to become a lawyer but he was determined to become a writer and studied for an English degree at London University. After marriage to his cousin, Lily Kirk, he arrived in Bingham in 1891 with his wife and two infant daughters. The family first lived on Fisher Lane where he wrote two novels before moving to Banks Cottage. His first major novel, Renie, opens in Bingham, which he called Bawton, and his subsequent novels were all set in and around Nottinghamshire. His most famous novel was “Forest Folk” published in 1901 which was set in Blidworth. All of Prior’s novels include many words and phrases in the Nottinghamshire dialect, very few of which are in use today, and Ailish gave many examples of these in her talk. Prior died in December 1922, was buried in Bingham Cemetery and is commemorated by blue plaques on the houses he lived in on Fisher Lane and the Banks.

Rob Gray gave a vote of thanks to Ailish for her very entertaining and informative talk and Club responded in the usual way                RG