Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller Couch, Writer, 1863 – 1944

Quiller Couch was born in Bodmin where his father was a medical practitioner. Q, as he was later known, obtained a first class classics degree at Oxford and worked as a journalist in London until 1892. He was a prolific writer of more than 20 novels, short stories, children's books, prose and verse and literary criticism.  He was appointed Professor of English Literature at Cambridge in 1912, a position he held for the rest of his life. He first visited Fowey in 1879 and settled at The Haven in 1892, until his death.  He took a very active part in life in Fowey and in the county. For many years he was Chairman of Cornwall Education Committee, a Justice of the Peace, Chairman of Fowey Harbour Commissioners for more than twenty years, Commodore of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club for more than thirty years and an enthusiastic supporter of Liberalism. He was knighted in 1910, was elected Mayor of Fowey in 1937 and also given the freedom of Fowey.

Research Helen Luther

Sources: Joan Coombs, A Fowey Jig-saw, (Fowey; RFYC, 2000); Michael Douglas Smith, ‘Couch, Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller- [pseud. Q] (1863–1944)’,  Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004); Sir Arthur Quiller Couch Memorial Fund.