A UNIQUE CULTURAL LEGACY

Margaret Brecknell profiles a writer who changed the literary landscape forever

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Best known for his graphic portrayal of sexual relationships within a working-class setting, the name of DH Lawrence remains synonymous with the scandal surrounding his most controversial novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover. Yet there is so much more to discover about this complex character whose willingness to push boundaries changed the literary landscape forever. The son of a coal miner, David Herbert Lawrence was born on 11 September 1885 in the Nottinghamshire colliery town of Eastwood. The young Bert became one of the first local pupils to win a council scholarship to Nottingham High School under a scheme intended to help working-class boys. However, he did not flourish there and left at the age of 15.

After a brief stint as a factory clerk, Lawrence swapped clerical work for a new role as a pupil-teacher at a local school in Eastwood. This gave Lawrence the hands-on experience he required to be later accepted on to a teacher training course at Nottingham University.

Away from his studies, Lawrence was already taking his first steps as a writer and had begun work on a novel which would eventually form the basis of his first published full-length work, The White Peacock. On discovering his writing ambitions, one longstanding family friend, Ann Chambers, remarked with impressive foresight: “I'm afraid for him. With his ideas, he could set the world on fire.”

Ann's daughter, Jessie, proved an influential figure in Lawrence's early writing career. The two enjoyed a teenage romance, but, above and beyond that, shared a mutual passion for literature in all its forms and she greatly encouraged Lawrence's early literary ambitions.