Artist and writer.
Mervyn Laurence Peake was born on 9 July 1911 in Kuling, Dehua, Fujian, China, the younger child of Ernest Cromwell Peake (1874-1950) and Amanda Elizabeth Ann Peake née Powell (1875-1939). His birth was registered on 8 December 1911 in the British Consulate at Kiukiang, China, where in the register his father is described as a medical missionary residing at the London Mission, Hankow, China. His elder brother was Ernest Leslie Peake (1905-1978).
His missionary parents returned to England in 1922. He attended Eltham College and then completed his education briefly at Croydon School of Art and then the Royal Academy Schools. He made two long stays on Sark, in the Channel Islands, where he wrote the middle book, Gormenghast, of the fantasy trilogy for which he is best known.
Electoral registers from 1935 to 1937 show him listed, together with his parents at 55 Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey (now Greater London).
He married Maeve Patricia Mary Theresa Gilmore (1918-1983) in the 4th quarter of 1937 in the Marylebone Registration District, London. They had three children: Sebastian Peake (1940-2012); Fabian Benedict Peake (b.1942) whose births were both registered in the Worthing Registration District, West Sussex and who was born in Sark, Channel Islands and who wrote '
Electoral registers in 1938 show him listed at 34 Primrose Mansions, London, SW11, but in 1939 telephone directories showed him at 49 Portsdown Road, London, W9. This road was later renamed as Randolph Avenue and in the 1939 England and Wales Register he is described as an artist and poet, residing at 49 Randolph Avenue, London, W9, where he was a member of the Air Raids Precautions First Aid Stretcher Party attached to the Harrow Road Paddington Branch.
Telephone directories from 1945 to 1947 list him at 70 Glebe Place, London, SW3 and in 1952 at The Grange, Smarden, Ashford, Kent. From 1954 to 1960 he was listed at 55 Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey (now Greater London) and also between 1954 and 1961 he was shown as the telephone subscriber at 3 Trafalgar Studios, Manresa Road, London, SW3. Thereafter, from 1961 he was listed at 1 Drayton Gardens, London, SW10.
Aged 45 years he developed Parkinson's disease and died, aged 57 years, on 17 November 1968 at The Close, Abingdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). His death was registered in the 4th quarter of 1968 in the Bullingdon Registration District, Oxfordshire and he was in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Burpham, Arundel, West Sussex. Probate records show that his address had been 1 Drayton Gardens, London, SW10 and that when probate was granted on 24 April 1969 his effects totalled £3,225.
He is commemorated as 'MERVYN PEAKE' on the plaque at 1 Drayton Gardens, London, SW10 and as 'MERVYN LAURENCE PEAKE' on the plaque at Surrey Court, 55 Woodcote Road, Wallington, SM6.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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