Raymond Sheppard and The Caravan Family by M. D. Hillyard

Our Caravan cover

Before Christmas 2022 three paintings came up for auction which I promised to write about. So here we go...

Blackie and Son Limited published "The Caravan Family" by M. D. Hillyard c. 1938. This date is not very certain and you'll see why shortly.

I love the British Library, who, when there is no obvious publication date, add the accession date. This, at least pins a book's publication date to the relevant decade, but sometimes it leads to 'errors' of a sort. The British Library states:

Our House on Wheels.[1937]
The Caravan Family.[1938]
Our Camping Holiday.[1938]
Our Caravan.[1940]

The Caravan Family is made up of the other three books listed above so did Hillyard write the total compilation in one go and Blackie split off three books and separately published them? Or did she write over a couple of years and then a compiled version was published of the three books as a large single book? I favour the latter and that means the date for Our Caravan is problematic. But I think we can safely deduce 1936 or 1937 based on those accession dates. 

I have listed all the writings I could find by the author in case others wish to search for her work. Interestingly I did not find her credited in any magazines of the period in which she wrote, but maybe this is because she was a children's author. I shall leave others to go further and add to the list.

Our Caravan title page

Mary Dorothea Kelly (neé Hillyard) was born on 2 April 1886 in Stoodleigh, Devon to Arthur Hillyard (born c. 1846 Southam, Warwick, a Clergyman - 31 May 1919) and Ellen Augusta Hillyard (born c. 1847 in Oakford, Devon, died 6 July 1919). Mary had a brother Temple George Hillyard (a year older than her)  and a younger sister Mildred Ellen Grace Hillyard. In 1901 three servants and a Governess were living with the household in the parsonage at Upton Pyne (which is north-west of Exeter), and ten years later the census shows they had four servants at the parsonage,with Mary and Mildred still at home. Mary was 25 at this point in 1911. 

The year 1919 must have been a year of upheavals. She married around July 1919 (the year her Mother and Father died) and in 1939 she is still married and listed as having "Private means"  and her husband's occupation states 'Clerk in Holy Orders'. They had a gardener and two servants in the Rectory, Tiverton, Devon.

Mary's husband was the Revd. Evelyn Maitland Kelly (4 Feb 1887 - Salcombe, Devon - 12 Jan 1954 (aged 66), Oakford, Devon). He was the son of Reverend Maitland Kelly and Elfrida Blanche Carey (you can read more on the family here) . He appears to have been a boarder at Kelly College in 1901 (is the name coincidence?) and an assistant School Master on the Isle of Wight in 1911. Eight years later he married Mary. They had at least one child, Paul M. H. Kelly (born 28 July 1924). 

I wondered whether there might be some evidence of another child as Mary's probate was sorted by Anthony Arthur Hillyard Kelly (Schoolmaster), this might also explain why she died as a widow of "Neathwood Christow Devon" yet ended her days in Guildford. Mary died on 12 September 1959 in Guildford but was buried in St Peter's Churchyard, Oakford, Devon with her husband the Revd. Evelyn Maitland Kelly. Ironically when her husband was vicar of Oakford, she was only 3 miles from her birthplace.  She left a legacy of £7434/16/6.

 M. D. HILLYARD BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Peggy's Giant (illustrations by 'Peggy') London: A. & C. Black, 1920. [Available here] 
• Peggy and the Giant's Aunt. (illustrations by 'Peggy') London: A. & C. Black, 1921.
• The Exciting Family (illustrations by Agnes and Dorathea Kovalevsky) London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son [1927] - (Credited as M.D.Hillyard and E. M. Kelly)
• "Gooseberry jam" in Hunt the slipper and other stories. London: T. Nelson & Sons, [1928]
  
• Mary Was Five. London: T. Nelson & Sons, [1937]
• Our House on Wheels. London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, [1937]
• Our Camping Holiday. London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, [1938]
• The Caravan Family. London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, [1938]
• Martin's Little House. London: T. Nelson & Sons, [1939]
• Our Caravan. London; Glasgow: Blackie & Son, [1940]
• Minikin's Visit. (drawings by A. H. Watson) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1953. - (Credited as M.D.Hillyard and E. M. Kelly)
• Minikin's New Home. (drawings by A. H. Watson.) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1954.
• Minikin and her Friends. (drawings by A. H. Watson.) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1955.
• Timothy, Minikin and all. (drawings by A. H. Watson.) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1956.
• A Treat for Minikin. (drawings by A. H. Watson.) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1958.

The paucity of images in this article is because I shall publish three more articles on the three books that make up The Caravan Family and the cover above is unique to the series (notice a chicken flees from the car as the latter comes over the bridge - with a church in the background) and I've included the title page for good measure. Here also is a listing of all the books with their story titles.

Story listing

Our House on Wheels, Our Camping Holiday, Our Caravan to follow soon