Ralph Hale Mottram


Ralph Hale Mottram was an English writer. He was well known as a novelist, particularly for the Spanish Farm trilogy, and as a war poet of World War I.

Upbringing

Mottram's father was the chief clerk of Gurney's Bank in Norwich. He had an idyllic childhood growing up in Bank House – a magnificent George II mansion on Bank Plain – which was later Barclay's Bank and is now a youth centre. The Mottrams were non-conformist and worshipped at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich in Colegate.

Career

Mottram went from being a bank clerk in Norwich before the war to becoming lord mayor there in 1953. The Spanish Farm won the 1924 Hawthornden Prize. He also wrote a biography of John Galsworthy. As a conservationist, he was a defender of Mousehold Heath, a large open space in the heart of Norwich. On St James' Hill, there is a sculpture dedicated to him, which depicts the skyline of Norwich.

Burial

Mottram is buried in the non-denominational Rosary Cemetery, Norwich. Being a non-member of the established Church of England, Mottram once said, "I knew, when I was four years old, exactly where I could be buried."

Works