Blue plaque tribute to a forgotten literary great
AWRITER born in Runcorn and to whom Bram Stoker’s classic horror Dracula was dedicated has been honoured with a display at The Brindley following the unveiling of a blue heritage plaque.
The memento to Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, born May 14, 1853, in Bridgewater Street, was installed on the side of The Clarendon pub across the road from the house believed to be his birthplace.
Heritage campaigner Stuart Allen said the prolific author, who preferred to be known as Hall Caine, wrote novels including The Manxman – which was adapted as a film by Alfred Hitchcock – but are now no longer in print and his works remain largely unknown outside his adopted home of the Isle Of Man, where he moved in 1895 having bought Greeba Castle, and to a lesser extent in North America.
His works included novels, short stories, film scripts, plays and non-fiction.
Among his successes was the novel The Christian, which was the first to sell more than a million copies in Great Britain.
Stuart said that he was once one of the world’s most popular authors and would be mobbed by adoring fans.
He was also caricatured in Vanity Fair.
Hall Caine grew up in Liverpool and after school worked as a draughtsman but wrote during his free time, with articles published by the building trade press and newspapers.
Stuart and his partner, Jacqueline Bates, have set up a display at The Brindley theatre from September 10 until October 21 to raise the author’s profile once again.
Stuart added that interest in the plaque has spread to the Isle Of Man.
He said: “Once news of the plaque spread, I was contacted by the Isle Of Man’s tourism department, as well as by one of Hall Caine’s descendants, who was thrilled with the honour for her once famous ancestor.
“I was also interviewed on Manx FM to discuss Hall Caine’s life and work.”
He added: “After researching the life of Hall Caine for the blue plaque, my partner and I decided that one day we would put on a display to celebrate, and to inform people about, the life and work of this wonderful, but forgotten, writer.
“We both feel that in Hall Caine we have a hidden treasure in Runcorn, who we haven’t celebrated enough as a town.
“Hopefully our modest display will go some way to increase Hall Caine’s presence in the town of his birth.”
His talents earned him renown and popularity among the creative world and even with European royalty.
Stuart said: “He became friends with the famous preRaphaelite painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and for a time acted as his secretary.
“Another friend was Bram Stoker, who dedicated his horror story Dracula to Caine under his nickname of ‘Hommy-Beg’.
“This nickname means ‘Little Tommy’ and was given to Caine in his childhood by his Manx grandmother.
“During WWI, Caine wrote many patriotic articles for the war effort, for which he was given a KBE in 1918 on the recommendation of the Prime Minister Lloyd George.
“Four years later he was made a Companion Of Honour in recognition of his distinction in literature.
“In 1917 he was created an Officer Of The Order Of Leopold by King Albert of Belgium.
“He had edited ‘King Albert’s Book’, the proceeds of which had gone to help Belgian refugees.”