Amy Catherine Walton

Amy Catherine Walton (9 August 1849 – 1939), better known as Mrs O. F. Walton, was a British author of Christian children's books, mainly but not exclusively fiction. She was born Amy Catherine Deck and died in Leigh, Kent in 1939.

Life

Amy was the daughter of the vicar of St Stephen's Church, Spring Street, Hull.

Her career as an author began with My Mates And I, written in 1870 but not published until 1873. Her first published work was My Little Corner in 1872. In 1874 came one of her most famous books, Christie's Old Organ, which has been regularly reprinted up to the present day. It is the story of orphaned Christie and his friend, the aged organ-grinder Treffy. It was introduced to Japan in 1882 and was published in 1885 by the translation of Tajima Kashi.[1] It was one of the earliest books in history of both Christian's and children's literature of Japan and was re-translated in 1903 and 1994.[2]

In 1875 she married Octavius Frank Walton, who was her father's curate at the time. It was under her husband's name, as Mrs O. F. Walton, that she was to become better known. In the year of their marriage they moved to Jerusalem where Octavius took up a ministry in a church on Mount Zion until 1879. While there in 1877, her book A Peep Behind The Scenes was published. It is the story of Rosalie, a child who works in a travelling theatre.

The Waltons lived at Cally, Kirkcudbrightshire for a while, and from 1883 to 1893, Octavius was in the ministry at the church of St Thomas, York, moving to St Jude's, Wolverhampton in 1893. He retired in 1918.

Although she wrote many more books, it is A Peep Behind the Scenes and Christie's Old Organ that have remained well known, continuing to be published by the Lutterworth Press, successor to her original publisher, the Religious Tract Society.

Works

References

  1. ↑ Tajima Kashi (田島 かし, 1864 - ?). Tajima is the family name. She had used another kanji name Tajima Kashi (田島 佳志) or pen name Kōu (香雨).
  2. ↑ Torigoe Shin (ed.) Interesting Reading Japanese Children's Literature: Pre-war Period, Minerva Shobō, Kyōto, 2004, pp 14-15. 鳥越信『たのしく読める日本児童文学 戦前編』、ミネルヴァ書房、京都、2004年。

External links

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