Alison Uttley

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Alison Uttley (17 December 1884 – 7 May 1976), née Alice Jane Taylor, was a prolific British writer of over 100 books. She is now best known for her children's series about Little Grey Rabbit, and Sam Pig.

Born in Cromford and brought up in rural Derbyshire, she was educated at the Lea School in Holloway and the Lady Manners School in Bakewell, where she developed a love for science which led to a scholarship to Manchester University to read physics. In 1906 she became the second woman honours graduate of the University.

After leaving university she trained as a teacher in Cambridge and in 1908 took up the post of physics teacher at the Fulham Secondary School for Girls. Three years later she married James Arthur Uttley. The Uttleys had one son, John Taylor. James Uttley died in 1930, his health having been affected by his service in the First World War.

The Uttleys lived at Downs House, 13 Higher Downs, Bowdon, Cheshire from 1924 to 1938 which now has a blue plaque to signify the association.

Alice began writing to support herself and her son financially after she was widowed. Her first books were a series of tales about animals, including little Grey Rabbit, the little Red Fox, Sam Pig and Hare. She later began writing for older children and adults, particularly focussing on rural topics. She was also interested in dreams and fantasy. She drew on these interests in one of her most popular books, A Traveller in Time which mixed dreams and historical fact in a story about a twentieth-century girl who is transported back to the 16th century and becomes involved in a plot to free Mary, Queen of Scots. Uttley later settled in Beaconsfield, in a house named Thackers after the house in A Traveller in Time. Thackers was set in a house in Dethick in Derbyshire now owned by Simon Groom (former Blue Peter presenter) and is now a B and B advertised on the web.

Uttley was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Manchester University in 1970 in recognition of her literary work.