Francis Young

Francis Brett Young (born June 29, 1884 in Halesowen , West Midlands , England , † March 28, 1954 in Cape Town , South Africa ) was a British writer and composer .

Life

The son of a doctor and a mother from a medical family, studied medicine at the University of Birmingham . In 1907 Young opened a practice in Brixham , Devon, and married singer Jessie Hankinson the following year. He assisted her in composing her songs, which were published in 1912 and 1913.

During the First World War he worked in the Medical Corps; retired from military service as a disabled person in 1918 and was no longer able to work as a doctor. The couple moved to Capri , where they lived until 1929. During this time they made extensive trips to South Africa , the USA and in the summers to the Lake District in England .

In 1932 they returned to England and lived in Fladbury , Worcestershire . After the Second World War, they moved to Cape Town in South Africa, where Young also died. His ashes were brought back to England and are in Worcester Cathedral .

Works (selection)

• The Iron Age (1916)
• The Black Diamond (1921)
• Cold Harbor (1924)
• Portrait of Clare (1927)
• My Brother Jonathan (1928)
• The House Under the Water (1932)
• White Ladies (1935)
• Dr. Bradley Remembers (1936)
• Far Forest (1936)
• Mr Lucton's Freedom (1940)
• A Man About the House (1942)
• The Island (1944)
• Portrait of a Village (1951)
• Wistanslow (1956)

The estate of Francis Brett Young is at the University of Birmingham .

Film and television adaptations

My Brother Jonathan was filmed in 1948 with Michael Denison , Dulcie Gray and James Robertson Justice . In 1985 a series with Daniel Day-Lewis and Barbara Kellerman was created .

literature

• Michael Hall: Francis Brett Young , 1997.
• Jessica Brett Young: Francis Brett Young: A Biography , 1962

Web links

• The Francis Brett Young Society (English)