13 North Drive, New Brighton, Wirral

13, North Drive (middle house with door showing)

Lowry was born at 13, North Drive, New Brighton on 28th July 1909:

On Thursday 29th July, the births columns in the Liverpool Echo announced: ‘LOWRY – July 28th, at Warren Crest, North-drive, New Brighton, to Mr and Mrs Arthur Lowry, a son’.  (Gordon Bowker, Pursued by Furies Pg.7)

In the past, the address has been problematic for commentators and biographers for 2 reasons - the geographical location of the address and whether Lowry's former home was still standing. Both problems were resolved with the 2009 publication of the book From the Mersey to the World.

If we look at the history of Lowry’s birthplace, this confusion amongst different commentators becomes understandable. In 1909, North Drive was in New Brighton, which was part of the County Borough of Wallasey. The electoral ward of New Brighton and later Warren (New Brighton was split into several different voting wards as the town grew) was in the Parish of Liscard. In 1909, Wallasey was in the County of Cheshire; but in 1974 it was amalgamated, along with other districts – including Birkenhead – into the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Because of the nearness of Liverpool, and Lowry’s association with the city, some commentators have also incorrectly given Liverpool as Lowry’s birthplace.

Lowry’s brother, Russell, stated in the Malcolm Lowry Review in 1987 in response to a piece by Mark Thomas, entitled ‘Pilgrimage to Caldy’, in the same journal: "Warren Crest wasn’t worth looking for. It isn’t there any more. Wallasey suffered heavy bomb damage during WW2. I understand the site has been redeveloped". (Malcolm Lowry Review Numbers 21 & 22 Fall 1987 & Spring 1988 Pg. 102)

The electoral register for 1909 and 1911 had Arthur Lowry living at No. 13, with no mention of Warren Crest. 

The 1911 Gore’s Directory above confirms that Arthur Lowry was living at No. 13 and additionally that the property was called Warren Crest – which to date is the only documentary evidence of this, other than the birth record in the Liverpool Echo and Russell Lowry’s statements. 

Evidence collected from maps, electoral rolls, photographs and documentary evidence established that 13 North Drive was not damaged in the war and survived. (From the Mersey to the World Pg ).

Since the publication of From the Mersey to the World, further evidence has emerged in the form of the deeds for the house which establishes beyond a doubt that Lowy's birthplace still exists:

The deeds also show that  developer for 13 North Drive was David Benno Rapport, who also developed houses in Caldy where the Lowry family moved to in 1911 taking up residence at Inglewood.

Shakespeare's Richard 11

Mather Brown, Richard II Resigning the Crown (1801) The Boydell Shakespeare Prints

King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England (ruled 1377–1399) and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part 2, and Henry V. It may not have been written as a stand-alone work. Although the First Folio (1623) edition of Shakespeare's works lists the play as a history play, the earlier Quarto edition of 1597 calls itself The tragedie of King Richard the second. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry was taken by his father Arthur to see a production of the play at the Birkenhead Hippodrome circa 1918/19. No details of the production are available. Arthur Lowry loved Shakespeare and took the text along to read between acts. (Bowker Pursued By Furies Pgs16-17)

Lowry refers to the play in his short story 'Through The Panama'; "A poem by Conrad Aiken, a performance of Richard II when he was 10 years old at the Birkenhead Hippodrome, a gramophone record of Frankie Trumbauer's with Eddie Lang, Venuti and Beiderbecke, and a French film directed by Zilke (rhymes with Rilke?) called the Tragedy of a Duck." (Pg. 121)

Liver Buildings, Liverpool

The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building located in Liverpool, England. It is sited at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's Three Graces, which line the city's waterfront.

Opened in 1911, the building is the purpose-built home of the Royal Liver Assurance group, which had been set up in the city in 1850 to provide locals with assistance related to losing a wage-earning relative. One of the first buildings in the world to be built using reinforced concrete, the Royal Liver Building stands at 90 m (300 ft) tall and was formerly the tallest storied building in Europe. Read more on Wikipedia

The Liver Buildings probably provide the most iconic picture of Liverpool. They are embedded in the consciousness of many people throughout the world who instantly recognise the city by the view of the building from the River Mersey.

The Liver Buildings would have been a familiar sight to Lowry walking along the promenade on the Wirral side of the river, sitting in the Egremont Ferry Hotel, crossing the river on the ferry from Birkenhead or Seacombe or when he walked up from the river to his father's workplace in the Cotton Exchange in Liverpool.

Lowry refers to the Liver Buildings in his first novel Ultramarine as Dana Hilliot daydreams aboard the ship Oedipus Tyrannus; ...he remembered just where he stood, just what he had said, and how he said it, just how the silver compasses of the Liver Building clock had indicated half-past eleven. (Pg. 19) and "At half-past seven, by the clock on the Liver Building, he returns on the ferry from Liverpool." (Pg. 131). The Consul sees the building in Under The Volcano; "How strange the landing at Liverpool, the Liver Building seen once more through the misty rain, that murk smelling already of nosebags and Caegwyrle Ale.." (Pg. 135).

The Liver Building is topped by the Liver Birds which have become symbols for the city. I am sure that Lowry would have appreciated that irony, with his love of birds, that the mythical Liver Birds are based on the cormorant, which is a symbol of deception and greed. The bird is described in Milton's Paradise Lost, a book that Lowry studied at Cambridge, sitting on the Tree of Life, as an image of Satan entering Paradise in disguise before tempting Eve. The birds become the guardians of the entry to the "dreadful city" of Liverpool.

Lowry's brother Stuart told their father Arthur that if he survived the First World War he would climb the Liver Building and retrieve one of the Liver birds. (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 14).

Read more on Malcolm Lowry @ The Nineteenth Hole

Torquay, Devon

Torquay is a town in Devon, England. It lies 22 miles (35 km) south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, 38 miles (61 km) north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. The town's economy was initially based upon fishing and agriculture as in the case of Brixham across Torbay, but in the early 19th century the town began to develop into a fashionable seaside resort, initially frequented by members of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars while the Royal Navy anchored in the bay and later by the crème de la crème of Victorian society as the town's fame spread. Renowned for its healthful climate, the town earned the nickname of the English Riviera and favourable comparisons to Montpellier. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry stayed in the resort at the Vernon Court Hotel while recuperating after his admittance to the Morteonhampstead Cottage Hospital in June 1933. He stayed in the resort up until late September. The recuperation was arranged and paid for by Arthur Lowry. Lowry did occasionally go to London and elsewhere though he was supposed to be confined to the resort. (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 163). He acquired a MG F-Type Magna from Tom Forman while he was staying in Torquay. Lowry was visited in Torquay by Bob Pocock who he met through James Travers who also visited. Lowry went swimming in Torre Abbey Sands Beach while recuperating. Lowry wrote to Jan Gabrial asking her to visit him in Torquay and to travel there via Plymouth from France onboard the Paris. (Jan Gabrial Inside The Volcano Pg.22).

According to Bowker, Lowry was very unstable while staying in Torquay. (Pg. 164). He suffered paranoia whilst out swimming off Torre Abbey Sands.

Lowry wrote to Jan Gabrial in August 1931 from the Vernon Court Hotel;  "Torquay "a funny, tawdry place, on the sea, like a pub picture of China gone crazy, only its got speedboats & plenty of sea & diving boards & this afternoon a cruiser, god knows where that came from. And we shall spend some blue sea mornings here." (Collected Letters Volume 1 Pg. 137). Lowry may be referring to the visit of HMS Renown to Torbay in July 1933 when King Feisal of Iraq visited the ship.


In another letter to Jan in August 1933, Lowry wrote; "I told you that Torquay was drab in daytime but at night like a picture postcard of China. Its a loveable & laughable kind of tawdriness though: harbours full of immense toy battleships, quite cuckoo." (Collected Letters Volume 1 Pg. 138). He also tells Jan that he went to see an "American crook film" and a "dilapidated musical comedy called The Belle of New York just so as I could think about the title-" (Pg.138). 

Vernon Court Hotel, Torquay, Devon

The hotel is located in Warren Road, Torquay - "TORQUAY VERNON COURT HOTEL (unlicensed). Overlooking Princess Gardens, Pavilion Harbour, Town Gardens and Tennis Courts. Electric lift to all floors. Greatly enlarged and re-furnished. Magnificent balcony ( Royal Automobile Club guide and handbook) and TORQUAY.— Vernon Court Hotel ; 1 South aspect ; h.and c. all bed, garage. From 3 guineas. (National and English review: Volume 102). The hotel has now been converted into apartments offerings fantastic panoramic views across The English Riviera, including Torquay marina to the left, Brixham and Paignton across the water, and Torre Abbey beach below. The hotel is to the centre of Torquay and Torre Abbey Sands can be accessed from directly below the hotel via a path.


Lowry stayed with his friend James Travers who owned a silver-fox farm near Chagford in early June 1933. On the 12th June, Lowry was admitted to Morteonhampstead Cottage Hospital suffering from "dysentry" contracted in Spain, though Clarissa Aiken reported that he had gone in for drying out. (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 159). Lowry left the hospital after several days to recuperate at the Vernon Court Hotel in Torquay. The accommodation was arranged and paid for by Arthur Lowry. Lowry garaged his MG F-type Magna at the hotel's garage. He was visited here by James Travers and Bob Pocock during the Summer of 1933. Lowry went swimming on the nearby Torre Abbey Sands.

Lowry wrote to Jan Gabrial from the hotel and 6 letters survive (Collected Letters Volume 1 Pgs.133-138)

MG F-Type Magna

The MG F-type Magna was a six-cylinder-engined car produced by the MG Car company from October 1931 to 1932. It was also known as the 12/70. Fitted with 1 in (25 mm) twin SU carburettors it produced 37.2 bhp (27.7 kW) at 4100 rpm at first, later increased to 47 bhp (35 kW) by revising the valve timing. Drive was to the rear wheels through a four-speed non-synchromesh gearbox of ENV manufacture. The chassis was a 10-inch (250 mm) longer version of the one from the MG D-type with suspension by half-elliptic springs and Hartford friction shock absorbers all round with rigid front and rear axles. Wire wheels with 4.00 x 19 tyres and centre lock fixing were used. The car had a wheelbase of 94 in (2,388 mm) and a track of 42 in (1,067 mm). With its sloping radiator and long bonnet the F-Type is an attractive car capable of reaching 70 mph (110 km/h). 188 of the cars were supplied in chassis form to outside coachbuilders such as Abbey, Jarvis, Stiles and Windover. Read more on Wikipedia 

After Lowry was released Morteonhampstead Cottage Hospital, he decided that he needed a car like (James) Travers but better (Draft Dark as the Grave Wherein Lies My Friend Pg 692). Lowry recalled the MG Magna that Tom Forman wanted to sell and went to London. However, Tom Forman gave him the car as a present. Somehow, Lowry with the help of James Travers got the car down where he was staying at the Vernon Court Hotel in Torquay Devon.(Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 160). Though he took instruction from Travers, Lowry was too nervous to drive the car alone.

In September, Travers invited him to a pub crawl with Bob Pocock and told Lowry to bring the car. Lowry drove from Torquay by himself to Chagford embarking on a drinking spree with Travers and Pocock. After leaving the Three Crowns Hotel in Chagford, Lowry crashed the car on a narrow road while following Travers back to his farm - 'disembowelled it on a great tombstone of a rock' (Gordon Day Malcolm Lowry Pg. 181). Jan Gabrial recalled the car; "He'd wrecked his short-lived MG Magna, but was fortunately unhurt. Thank God I had not been with him when he crashed!" Jan says that though the car was a wreck, Lowry still talked about driving in it to the South France; "When we go to the South of France we must take the MG" (Jan Gabrial Inside The Volcano" Pg. 22). Arthur Lowry arranged for the car to be towed back to Liverpool.

Lowry refers to the car in his novel Under The Volcano; "......The English "King's Parade" voice, scarcely above him, the Consul saw now, of an extremely long low car drawn up beside him, murmurous: an MG Magna.....(Pg. 84); in October Ferry to Gabriola; "Nor their towing the MG away — it was still the same one (and one of the few of its kind, that special 1932 four-seater convertible MG Magna "University" model), like the sporting hearse..." (Pg. 115)

Morteonhampstead Cottage Hospital, Devon

Morteonhampstead Cottage Hospital is located in Ford Street on the edge of the town . This was a gift to the town in 1900 from Lord Hambledon, the Lord of the Manor, and it still remains an essential part of local health care. The hospital was built for the benefit and accomodation (with or without payment) of poor persons suffering from disease or accident and being resident in the parishes of Moretonhampstead, Lustleigh, North Bovey, Manaton, Chagford, Drewsteignton, Bridford and Dunsford. It was run by a local committee and was kept by legacies, subscriptions, donations and the proceeds of the local carnival. It was taken over by the government in 1945 under the National Health Acts.

On the 12th June, Lowry was admitted to the hospital while staying with his friend James Travers in nearby Chagford. Lowry was admitted suffering from "dysentry" contracted in Spain, though Clarissa Aiken reported that he had gone in for drying out. ( Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 159). He stayed at the hospital for several days. Bowker states that Lowry was "strangely threatened by the hospital physician, a Dr Dixey, who told him the authorities knew all about his conduct at Cambridge and elsewhere and were only waiting a chance to 'get him on the mat'." (Pg. 160). Lowry left the hospital sometime in mid-June, Arthur Lowry arranged for him to stay at the Vernon Court Hotel in Torquay, in order to recuperate.

Gorphwysfa Hotel, Pen-y-Pas, North Wales

The Gorphwysfa Hotel was a former coaching inn located at the head of Llanberis Pass. The inn became a popular climbing centre with its heyday in the early part of the 20th century. The hotel became the Pen-y-Pas Youth Hostel in 1971. The guestbook on display in the hostel has entries for 1913/14 from G M Trevelyan (eminent historian and first president of YHA), Aldous Huxley (the author) and George Mallory ( ill-fated Everest climber).

Lowry, Jan Gabrial and Tom Forman stayed at the hotel in early October 1933 arriving on the 1st. Forman knew about the hotel from a mountaineering trip the previous year. (Godron Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 166). Jan wrote in her diary; "...the Gorphwysfa Hotel at Pen-y-Pas (which by the way - in surroundings remote and stern - could have served as the setting for the House of Usher)" and later "Our accommodations are primitive and damned cold." (Jan Gabrial Inside The Volcano Pg. 27).

Lowry, Jan Gabrial and Forman walked up Snowden from here. Arthur Lowry visited Lowry at the hotel to discuss fiances sometime in mid-October 1932. (Jan Gabrial Inside The Volcano Pg. 28-29). Jan's states they stayed in Wales until Sunday, October 15th when Lowry went to home to Inglewood and Jan went to London.

Lowry later referred to the hotel in Under The Volcano after discovering a comment in the hotel's visitors' book; “Climbed the Parson’s Nose,” one had written, in the visitors’ book at the little Welsh rock-climbing hotel, “in twenty minutes. Found the rocks very easy.” ” Came down the Parson’s Nose,” some immortal wag had added a day later, “in twenty seconds. Found the rocks very hard.” (Pg. 185).

Braeside School, West Kirby

Lowry attended the Braeside Preparatory School between 1914 and 1916. The school used to be located in Kirby Park, West Kirby, which is under a mile from Lowry’s second home, Inglewood in Caldy. At the time, Kirby Park was the name of the southern area of West Kirby, with its own railway station on the West Kirby to Hooton line. Kirby Park today is one road in the south of West Kirby containing many large houses. At some point in the 1900s, or perhaps earlier, the road the school was in was renamed as Devonshire Road.

The school occupied two semi-detached Victorian houses numbered 17, 19, 21 and 23, with a playing field across the road, which still exists and is now a play area for local children. No. 19, whose house bears the nameplate ‘Braeside’ still has graffiti carved into woodwork on the stairs from the building’s time as a school, which closed before the Second World War.

The 1901 trade journal, Porter’s Directory for West Kirby, Hoylake, Heswall etc, contained an advert for the Braeside Preparatory School giving details of the school’s curriculum and philosophy:

The Rev. A.G. Cox (late scholar of Hertford College, Oxford and Assistant Master of Bromsgrove and Birkenhead Schools) receives boys from 7 to 15 years age to prepare them for the Public Schools.

Both at Bromsgrove (for 2.5 years) and at Birkenhead (for 9 years), Mr Cox acted in the capacity of House Master in the School House, and had special opportunities for becoming thoroughly acquainted with the internal management and discipline of a Boarding School.

The School Course includes instruction in Latin, Greek, French, Mathematics (German, Music, Singing and Drawing, if required), together with a general knowledge of the Bible. It is Mr Cox’s aim to maintain a high moral as well as intellectual standard. He feels that the development of character must necessarily be largely guided by the influences brought to bear upon a young boy at school, and he endeavours to pay as much attention to each individual out of school hours as well as the classroom. He hopes the boys entrusted to him will be prepared in every way for the wider life of the Public Schools.

Mr Cox has the assistance of Resident Masters for French and Mathematics, and of Music and Singing Teachers, and Drill Sergeant.

The domestic arrangements are in the hands of a Lady Matron, who does everything to secure the comfort and health of the boys.

A Prospectus of the School will be supplied on application to the Head Master.

The House stands in a very healthy position; there is a Carpenter’s Shop and an excellent Gymnasium attached to the School as well as a field for cricket and football, commanding a full view of the mountains and the sea.

Not only do we get a flavour of the school day for Malcolm but also perhaps an indication of why Arthur Lowry sent his sons Malcolm and Russell to the school: Mr Cox’s aim ‘to maintain a high moral as well as intellectual standard’ must have appealed to Arthur’s Wesleyan philosophy as much as the short distance his sons had to travel. The availability of a sports field and gymnasium must also have appealed to the health-conscious Arthur.