Library and Digital Assistant Jan Pinder shares her research into Yorkshire author Willy Riley and his most famous novel Windyridge written in 1911.

A visitor to the village of Hawksworth near Guiseley today would have no inkling of the hive of activity it would have been a hundred years ago. This was all due to a man named Willie Riley, who in 1912 published his first novel Windyridge, which would put Hawksworth on the map and establish Willie Riley as a best selling author.  

Despite his fame following the publication of Windyridge, Riley is now almost forgotten. However, the work of David Copeland, a University of Bradford graduate and Riley enthusiast have led to a recent revival of interest in the life of Willie Riley and the reprinting of Windyridge in 2012. This edition includes an extensive introduction by David Copeland, which covers Riley’s life and work and has provided some of the information for this post.

Willie Riley did not have a literary background. He was born in Laisterdyke, Bradford in 1866 and educated at Bradford Grammar School. Riley then joined his fathers Stuff business ( a generic term for woven fabrics ), based in Cheapside, Bradford and eventually became Managing Director of Riley Brothers Optical Lantern Company, which sold and hired magic lantern equipment internationally. This business is listed in the 1912 Bradford Trade Directory at Leeds Central Library. During this period his company became involved in the early development of the moving image, in association with Bamford’s of Holmfirth. The business thrived until its collapse during the first world war.

Riley had an unconventional start as an author, turning to writing later in life. He produced  Windyridge in 1911, which he initially told in instalments to entertain and amuse his wife and two bereaved friends. Riley would on average finish one chapter a week and each completed chapter would then be read to the ladies on a Saturday night.

At the age of 46 he had never intended to become an author, but they persuaded him to submit the book to the newly formed publisher Herbert Jenkins and it went on to become a bestseller, selling over half a million copies. Riley became a full time writer after the optical business collapsed, producing thirty novels and nine non-fiction books over the next forty-seven years. He also wrote short stories, newspaper articles, travel works, and many lectures.

Riley was a dedicated local preacher for over seventy years. His Methodist faith was important to him and underlies all his writing.  His work is also characterised by his deep love for Yorkshire in which he vividly describes the landscape of the dales and moors and also the lively local characters. As David Copeland notes, his books offer a comforting escape, full of gentle humour and moral reflection.

Windyridge is Riley’s most famous novel and tells the story of Grace Holden, who moves from London to her father’s native Yorkshire in search of pace, tranquility and ‘the call of the heather.’ She finds the village of Windyridge by chance and decides to rent a cottage there for a year. Here, she and the reader are introduced to a variety of local characters, most notably Mother Hubbard who she initially lodges with before renting the cottage next door. The novel tells the story of Grace’s life over the next year as she settles into village life and gets to know the locals.

The real life setting for Windyridge is the village of Hawksworth, a place that Riley knew and loved. He also gave other localities in the novel fictional names, such as Guiseley (Fawkshill), Ilkley (Romanton), Marsland ( Baildon ), Leeds (Airlee), Bradford  (Broadbeck) and the famous Uncle Ned’s Inn ( Dick Hudson’s ).

From the publication of the novel in 1912 until the 1940s the village was often visited by readers looking for Windyridge, but not everyone was happy with Hawksworth’s new found fame. Riley himself commented that he had been told that he was blessed by all the tea-house proprietors ( and they are all tea-house proprietors now ) and cursed by all the farmers, and I have to avoid the blessings by staying away. I don’t mind the cursings. The farmers were unhappy because visitors to Hawksworth came tramping over their fields and the novel was described by one local as nowt but a pack o’ lies! Although it was extremely popular between the wars and several series of postcards were published, today the tearooms have long gone and most local people are not aware of the connection between the village and this once famous novel.

This photograph from Leodis, the photographic archive of Leeds Libraries, shows the Main Street in Hawksworth as it was in 1912 when Windyridge was published. The open moorland which Riley describes can be seen beyond the village. The photograph below shows Hawksworth Hall (undated ), known as Windyridge Hall in the novel, home of the Squire.

After his optical business collapsed in 1914 Willie Riley turned to full time writing, publishing his last work just before he died in 1961 at the age of ninety-five. Windyridge always remained the most popular of Riley’s books and to this day there are houses named after it all over the world. Although this was his most enduring novel, Riley’s other works should not be overlooked. Mainly set in his beloved Yorkshire Dales, a reader with a little knowledge of the area should be able to identify many of the towns and villages in which Riley’s works are set. In Windyridge Riley showed a great talent for painting vivid portraits of both places and people. This continues in his second novel Netherleigh ( Otley ) and in the subsequent novels that followed. Some of these are also set in and around Riley’s native Bradford, such as  Number Seven Brick Row which describes working class life in the terraced streets of this industrial city.

Riley moved to Silverdale in Lancashire in 1919, mainly due to the delicate health of his first wife Clara. He continued to write and was a widely sought after lecturer, becoming internationally known between the two wars. Clara died in 1929 and Riley married his second wife Edith in 1932.

Willie Riley wrote his autobiography  Sunset Reflections, at the age of 91 in 1957. His last novel was published in May 1961 and he died on 4^th June 1961 at the age of 95. Sadly, after his death he has become almost completely forgotten and his novels went out of publication.

Shortly before his death Willie Riley gave the original manuscript of Windyridge to Leeds Central Library.

In addition, in 2017 a relative of Willie donated a complete set of Riley’s books to the Central Library, many of which have personal dedications by the author to members of his family. To view items from the Willie Riley Collection, please contact the Local and Family History Library. The Archive at Bradford University also includes manuscripts, correspondence, press cuttings, notebooks and many photographs and albums.

It seems fitting to finish with the words of David Copeland : Willie Riley’s story reminds us that literary fame can be fleeting, but the power of a good story well told endures. His work offers a charming window into a bygone era of Yorkshire life, and its high time he was rediscovered.