Percy Withers (1867-1945) was a doctor, aspiring author and friend to some of the most renowned writers and artists of the interwar period.
Born in Sale in Cheshire, his father (who died in 1897) had been in the silk trade. Two of Percy’s older brothers were general practitioners and he too went into medicine but he had literary aspirations; his first volume of poetry was published in 1894. In 1896 he married Mary ‘Maimie’ Woolley Summers, who had been a student at Somerville College from 1889 to 1892, and was from a wealthy family of iron manufacturers. They moved to Altrincham, where Percy set up practice, and later to Sale. Percy was able to combine his work with lecturing for the Ancoats Brotherhood, which had been founded to make the arts accessible to the working classes.
In 1906, ill health forced Percy to retire from general practice and the family moved to their cottage by Derwentwater in the Lake District, where they lived until 1912. They relocated to Broadway in the Cotswolds, which was then home to many artists and actors, and in 1920 the family moved to Oxfordshire, living first at Souldern Court and from 1936 at Epwell Mill. Percy Withers died in 1945 and Maimie in 1947.
Throughout his life, Percy had written and published a variety of works, including poetry, memoirs of life by Derwentwater and an anthology of children’s verse, but his greatest talent was as a friend and supporter of writers, poets and artists, many of whom he and Maimie welcomed as guests to Souldern. The Percy Withers Collection includes letters from some 90 correspondents plus photographs and autograph albums, among them the visitor’s book, Paradise of Dainty Devices.
Provenance
The collection was given to the college by his daughters Audrey Kennet (Somerville 1924-27) and Monica Withers in 1976.
Using the collection
The finding aid for the Percy Withers Collection can be found here.
Please contact the archives to make an appointment to consult the collection or complete the application to consult the archives form which can be found here.
Limitations on use
Unpublished works, such as private correspondence, are still in copyright and permission to reproduce or quote will be required from the copyright holder. See the WATCH database for further information.
Other resources and collections
The Paradise of Dainty Devices is available on Digital Bodleian here.