Person    | Male  Born 8/3/1859  Died 6/7/1932

Kenneth Grahame

Categories: Literature

Countries: Scotland

Author. Born Edinbugh. Aged 5 lost his mother and was brought up in England by his grandparents. Very successful at school in Oxford, he was denied university for financial reasons, which explains his career choice. Worked in the Bank of England for nearly 30 years and resigned suddenly shortly before "The Wind in the Willows" was published in 1908, following an argument with one of the directors, Cunliffe.

His duties at the bank seem to have involved dealing with armed terrorists. In 1903 a lunatic ran into the bank demanding to see the governor. Grahame went to see him and was fired at three times but he ducked each time, or the gunman was a rotten shot. There is a plaque to Grahame in the Bank's internal Fountain Court.

Sadly, Alastair, the son and only child, for whom TWITW was originally written, was not healthy and had an unhappy life which he eventually ended as an undergraduate in Oxford, on a railway track.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Kenneth Grahame

Commemorated ati

Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame, 1859 - 1932, author of 'The Wind in the Willows" lived here,...

Read More

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Kenneth Grahame

Creations i

Boat in Molesey

{On the boat-shaped board:} Sit, climb, stand, balance, rock with the waves a...

Read More

Other Subjects

Arthur Morrison

Arthur Morrison

Writer and novelist. Born at 14 John Street, Poplar. He wrote detective novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. His best known work was 'A Child of the Jago', set in a fic...

Person, Art, Literature

1 memorial
Robert Fabian

Robert Fabian

Robert Honey Fabian was born in Lewisham. He joined the police in 1921 and rose to the rank of Detective Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police. We wonder if he managed to keep his middle name s...

Person, Emergency Services, Literature

1 memorial
Jane Loudon

Jane Loudon

Author and pioneer of science fiction. Born near Birmingham as Jane Webb. Wrote "The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century" and published it in 1827, anonymously. This was reviewed favour...

Person, Art, Gardens / Agriculture, Literature

1 memorial
Sir Henry Rider Haggard

Sir Henry Rider Haggard

Novelist. Born at Wood Farm, West Bradenham, Norfolk. At the age of nineteen he was sent to Natal to serve the Lieutenant-Governor, as his father said he was only fit to be a greengrocer. He achiev...

Person, Law, Literature, South Africa

1 memorial
Stevie Smith

Stevie Smith

Author and poet. Born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull. She supposedly got her nickname when out riding with a friend, who thought she looked like the jockey Steve Donoghue. Her father...

Person, Literature, Poetry

1 memorial

Previously viewed

South London Fawcett Group

South London Fawcett Group

From their Twitter page: South London Fawcett Group is a local group of the Fawcett Society which campaigns nationally for equality between women and men. 

Group, Community / Clubs, Gender Issues

1 memorial