Amid Exmoor there are a smattering of peaceful
towns and ancient villages, some of which have inspired artists to paint
magnificent pictures, and writers to tell us stirring tales of dark deeds
and romance, such as R.D.Blackmore's, famous novel, Lorna
Doone. Not
only does the plight of Blackmore's tragic couple captivate all who read
the book but it perfectly reflects the powerful, upland scenery in which
it is set. Badgeworthy Water, featured in the book as the home of the
Doone's, is probably one of Exmoor's loveliest valley's.
Blackmore, Richard Doddridge, 1825–1900, English novelist. Although
trained as a lawyer and called to the bar, he abandoned his legal career
because of ill health. His reputation rests chiefly on his romantic novel
about the 17th-century outlaws of Exmoor, Lorna Doone (1869), but he
wrote also 13 other novels—including The Maid of Sker (1872) and
Springhaven (1887)—and several volumes of poetry.
The third novel by English author R.D. Blackmore, Lorna
Doone is set in the wilds of Exmoor, in northern Devonshire, England,
during the late 17th century. It concerns the adventurous life of John
Ridd, a poor farmer, and his love for the beautiful maiden Lorna Doone.
Blackmore filled the novel with the high adventure, dramatic scenes,
bloody villainy, and obstacles to love.
Richard Blackmore
Richard Doddridge
Blackmore 1825-1900 was born in Longworth, Berkshire, where his
father John Blackmore was Curate-in-charge of the parish. Only a few
months after his birth his mother died of typhus, his father moved
back to his native West Country and young Richard was taken in charge
by his aunt. In 1831 John Blackmore married again and Richard went
to live with his father and stepmother in Devon.
Richard went to school in Tiverton where
he excelled in classical studies and later won a scholarship to Oxford,
where he took his degree in 1847. He made his first attempt at writing
a novel during a university vacation. This was the beginnings of The
Maid of Sker, not completed and published until 1872.
After leaving Oxford he entered the law, being called to
the Bar in 1852. Ill-health, however, forced him to give up legal work
as a full-time occupation and in 1853 he took the post of classics master
at Wellesley House Grammar School, Hampton Road, Twickenham. Soon after
accepting this post, Blackmore moved from London to 25, Lower Teddington
Road, Hampton Wick, where he lived until he moved to his new home in
Teddington. In 1853 he married, and in 1854 published anonymously two
volumes of poetry.
In September 1857 his uncle died leaving his nephew a sum of money which
enabled him to realise a long-held ambition - that of possessing a house
in the country with a larger garden. Blackmore selected a plot of land
at Teddington and built his new house (completed in 1860). He was to
live there for the rest of his life.
Gomer House, named after one of his favourite dogs, had
extensive grounds. Within them Blackmore developed an 11 acre market
garden, specialising in the cultivation of fruit. The grounds were surrounded
by high walls. Although an expert in horticulture, he lacked the necessary
business sense and his market garden was not a very profitable enterprise.
In the late 1860's Blackmore fought the coming of the railway
to Teddington, winning claims against his property by the London and
South West Railway Company, but being unable to prevent the erection
of a station almost directly opposite his house. Some local residents
in Teddington apparently regarded Blackmore as unsociable, if not misanthropic.
Charles Deayton, a Teddington merchant is recorded as saying to a visitor: "He
is not a social man, and seems wedded to his garden in the summer and
his book writing in the winter. That is all I know of him; except that
he keeps the most vicious dogs to protect his fruit, and I would advise
you to avoid the risk of visiting him." In fact, though of a retiring
disposition, Blackmore did have a number of intimate friends whom he
met regularly and many friendships with Americans as a result of his
wide following in the United States.
Blackmore died at Teddington on the 20th January 1900 after
a long and painful illness. He was buried at Teddington Cemetery. His
wife had died in 1888. He had no children. Gomer House continued to be
occupied but all its contents, including Blackmore's own library, were
auctioned in 1938. The house itself was later demolished.
Blackmore's best known novel is Lorna Doone, a romance
of Exmoor. Published in 1869 it established him in the front rank of
British novelists at that time. The novel was an overwhelming success
with the public and pioneered a new romantic movement in English literature.
Some of Blackmore's published work:
1854 - Poems by Melanter
1854 - Epullia - a collection of poems
1855 - The Bugle of the Black Sea - a patriotic poem inspired by the
Crimean War
1862 - The Farm and Fruit of Old
1864 - Clara Vaughan - his first novel, published anonymously.
1866 - Cradock Newell - described by the author as a tale of the New
Forest.
1869 - Lorna Doone - a romance of Exmoor.
1872 - The Maid of Sker
1875 - Alice Lorraine
1882 - Christowell
1884 - Tommy Upmore
1889 - Kit and Kitty
In Exeter Cathedral there is
a wall tablet in memory of Richard Doddridge Blackmore on the West Wall
of Nave.
- The "RD" in RD Blackmore stands for Richard
Doddridge.
- The author did not come from Exmoor, but spent his childhood
in North Devon.
- Lorna Doone was written in 1869.
- The book was set in the 1600s.
- Doone Valley is actually called Badgworthy Valley.
In cinematic terms, R.D. Blackmore is remembered for just one book out
of the 17 novels and volumes of poetry that he published between the
1850s and 1880s: Lorna Doone, which has been filmed at least seven times.
Born in 1825 in Longworth, Berkshire, Richard Doddridge Blackmore was
the son of John Blackmore, the curate-in-charge of the parish. His mother
died of typhus before he was a year old, and the elder Blackmore returned
to the west country, where he had been born. Except for a brief time
living with an aunt and uncle in Oxford, Richard spent virtually his
entire childhood in Devon, whose people and locales would figure prominently
in his fiction. He proved an excellent classics scholar and attended
Oxford. It was while on vacation from his studies in the mid-1840s that
he first tried his hand at writing fiction; that effort eventually became
the novel The Maid of Sker, which was published in 1872.
Blackmore worked as a teacher, tutoring students in private, and trained
and worked as an lawyer for a short time before ill-health forced him
back into teaching. In 1853 - the same year he was married - he published
two poetry collections anonymously. His first published novel, Clara
Vaughan, appeared in 1864, and, five years later, he published his most
successful novel, Lorna Doone. Subtitled "A
Romance of Exmoor," the
book was an adventure set in the 17th century involving a man seeking
revenge against the lawless clan that killed his family, and the woman
he loves, who was raised by the miscreant family. The 600-page book was
originally received with only modest interest when it was published as
a three-volume set - a common format in the 1860s - but when it was
reprinted in a single volume, the novel's popularity soared. Its free-flowing
romanticism set a new standard for Victorian fiction and helped make
Lorna Doone one of the most popular English novels of the second half
of the 19th century, going through dozens of editions and finding readers
across the English-speaking world. His success as a writer, coupled with
an inheritance from his uncle, allowed Blackmore to acquire the land
and resources necessary to build Gomer House, the large home and garden
near Teddington where he indulged in his life's other great interest,
horticulture, with a special emphasis on growing exotic fruits. He never
wrote another book as successful as Lorna
Doone (which was reprinted
for decades), but his later work, including The Maid of Sker (1872),
Alice Lorraine (1875), and Christowell (1882), all sold very well, and
he was one of the most popular of the late-Victorian novelists. Blackmore's
health began to fail after the death of his wife in 1888, and, the following
year, he published his last novel, Kit and Kitty.
Blackmore died in 1900 after a long illness and many years living in
the care of his wife's nieces. He was sufficiently well regarded to be
the subject of three separate biographies in the 20th century.
The first
film adaptation of Lorna Doone was made in 1912 by director Wilfred
Noy, and, in 1922, Madge
Bellamy starred in a highly regarded, deeply atmospheric version
directed by Maurice
Tourneur. The best film version from the sound era is the 1935 British
feature produced and directed by Basil
Dean. By contrast, the 1951 American adaptation by director Phil
Karlson for Columbia Pictures is widely regarded as a total failure,
treating the story almost like a Western in tone and pacing. The book
was still in print in those days, and so widely known that the
Three Stooges could get away with a pun (used in "The Hot Scots" in
1948, which was remade as "Scotched in Scotland" in 1954) in
which, introduced to the laird's niece, named Lorna Doone, Shemp
Howard steps forward and says, "Hey Lorna -- how ya doone?" In
2000, the story was filmed yet again, this time as a miniseries for the
A&E network.
See also Lorna Doone
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