Mervyn Peake (1911-1968)

Death: 17th November 1968
Location: Saint Mary the Virgin, Burpham, West Sussex, England
Cause of Death: Parkinson's Disease
Photo taken by: DeadGoodBooks
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British writer, poet and illustrator. Born Mervyn Laurence Peake in China, his father was a doctor and Christian missionary.   He showed an extraordinary gift for art, he studied at Croydon School of Art and at the Royal Academy Schools.  When teaching at the Westminster School of Art, he met his future wife, Maeve Gilmore. They married in 1937 and had three children. He served in the army during the Second World War as a war artist and visited the concentration camp at Belsen, an experience that he found harrowing. 
Peake established himself as a book illustrator creating pictures that were often beautiful and sometimes frightening. His reputation as a major literary figure is based on the three Titus novels. Titus Groan, the first novel in the Gormenghast Trilogy, was followed by Gormenghast and Titus Alone. Peake had intended to write more about Gormenghast but that was made impossible as he was affected by Parkinson’s disease.

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