Edith Pargeter (Ellis Peters)

Better known as author Ellis Peters, she was very proud of her local connections. She was born in Horsehay in 1913. After the death of her mother in 1956, she bought a house in Park Lane, Madeley. She lived there with her brother until his death in 1984. Neither of them ever married. A few years later, she moved to a modern bungalow a short distance away.

School Magazine

She was educated at Dawley Church of England School and the old Coalbrookdale High School. At the age of seven she was already writing poetry and contributed regularly to the school magazine as a teenager. She worked as a clerk in the Labour Exchange before spending seven years working in a chemist's shop in Dawley. She wrote avidly in her spare time and had her first short story published in a national magazine in 1936. Her first novel Hortensius, Friend of Nero was also published that year.

Services to Literature

She became very involved in Czechoslovakian affairs after attending an international summer school near Prague in 1947. She taught herself Czech and was awarded a medal for her services to Czech literature. She retained a life-long attachment to the country and the people.

St. Winifred's Bones

Her first Brother Cadfael novel A Morbid Taste for Bones did not appear until 1977. She was inspired by the story of St . Winifred's bones being transported to Shrewsbury Abbey. Her stories reached a much wider audience when they were televised during the 1990s. Derek Jacobi played the role of Brother Cadfael.

Pseudonyms

Altogether she wrote more than 90 books and used several pseudonyms. Her most famous pseudonym was Ellis Peters. It was derived from her brother's middle name Ellis and a variation on Petra. The latter being the name of the daughter of a Czech friend.