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John Meade Falkner (1858 – 1932) a teacher, tutor and successful industrialist. Notable among the relatively small number of books that he wrote was ‘Moonfleet’, a tale of smugglers that was a much-loved book for young readers for many years.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856 – 1925) was an English writer famous for his adventure stories set in Africa, ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ and its sequel, ‘Allan Quatermain’.

Thomas Hughes (1822 – 1896) attended Rugby School. The school and its headmaster, Dr Thomas Arnold, served as his inspiration for ‘Tom Brown’s School Days’, an adventure based on life in a public school.

Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1875) was a Victorian clergyman and writer, whose book ‘The Water Babies’ not only became a classic children’s story, but also a force for social change in the form of improved working conditions for boy chimney-sweeps.

Charles Lamb (1775 – 1834) was an accomplished writer and essayist, best remembered for ‘Tales from Shakespeare’, a rewriting of the plays which made them more accessible for children. He wrote them with his sister, Mary (1764 – 1834), he, the tragedies, she, the comedies.

The greatest wish of Edith Nesbit (1858 – 1924) was to be remembered as a poet, but her poetry, like much of her adult fiction, is long forgotten. She came to write children’s stories in later life, and was a responsible for a string of enduring titles, the most notable being ‘The Railway Children’. She has been described as ‘the first modern writer for children’, although Wordsworth readers have also been introduced to her talents as a writer of supernatural fiction.

Flora Annie Steel (1847- 1929) was an English writer who spent most of her adult life living in, and writing about, India. In later life she moved to Scotland, where her interest in folk tales led her to publish ‘English Fairy Tales’, in conjunction with the famous illustrator, Arthur Rackham.

Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939) was an English illustrator responsible for the pictures in a huge number of classic children’s titles, many of which feature in the Wordsworth list. ‘Mother Goose’ was a collection of traditional nursery rhymes which he edited and illustrated.

Anna Sewell (1820 – 1878) had just one book published. Written while in ill health, she sold it to a local publisher for £40. Published five months before her death, ‘Black Beauty’ is the most popular animal story ever written, and the sixth best seller in the English language.