Larkin in Loughborough

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the poet and librarian, Philip Larkin.

Larkin Lane

Larkin was born on 9th August 1922, to parents Sidney Larkin and Eva Emilie Day, and had a sister, Catherine, who was 10 years older than him. At the time of Philip’s birth, the family lived in Coventry, where his father was the Deputy City Treasurer. Philip attended the King Henry VIII Grammar School in Coventry, where today a room off the main school hall is named after him. He continued his education at St John’s College, Oxford, gaining a first-class honours degree in English, before training to become a professional librarian. His first librarian job was at Wellington in Shropshire, and this was followed by positions at Leicester University and Queen’s University, Belfast, and culminated in nearly 30 years at Hull University.

Larkin has a connection with Loughborough as his mother came to live on York Road, as did his sister, although Catherine later moved to Forest Road. Larkin’s mother spent more than 20 years of her life in Loughborough, and her son frequently visited her.

Eva Emilie Larkin's home on York Road

Today there is a very short street named in honour of Philip Larkin, called Larkin Lane, which is fittingly placed in an area of poet streets. The area grew up and was developed in the 1950s to house Loughborough’s burgeoning population, particularly in relation to employees coming to work for ‘The Brush’. However, Larkin Lane is a relatively new addition to the area, and comprises around about a dozen 21st-century bungalows, being directly off Wordsworth Road. 

Larkin Lane

More information about Philip Larkin, the man and his works, can be found in a variety of places on the internet:

The Philip Larkin Society is on Twitter!

As well as information, The Poetry Foundation has links through to some of Larkin's poetry.

The Poetry Archive includes a few audio recordings of Larkin's poetry.

_______________

Streets: Larkin Lane. 

Category: J Name of personal origin 

OR possibly

Category K: Commemorative names

Map co-ordinates: D6

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough,  9 August 2022

_______________

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows: 

Dyer, Lynne (2022). The Ladybird connection. Available from: https://lynneaboutthestreetsofloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/08/larkin-in-loughborough.html [Accessed 9 August 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

You can leave comments below, but do check back as my reply will appear here, below your comment.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne