Malton Library hosts Herbert Read display

For a good few years the art historian, poet, and philosopher has been celebrated across Yorkshire – not least in the Libraries of the North Eastern part of the county from Scarborough to Helmsley.

Malton Library is currently hosting a display with books and folders to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Herbert Read at Stonegrave in 1968.

It runs until Tuesday 12 June, after which it will move to Helmsley Community Library for three weeks before heading to Kirkbymoorside ‘his metropolis’.

On Tuesday 12 June, between 2pm and 3pm, the display’s organisers will be available for a chat.

The display includes Read’s idyllic childhood with brothers William and Charlie on the farm at Muscoates Grange which was shattered by their father’s death.

The exhibition also covers the resulting family loss of livelihood; their enrolment at Crossley Porter School Halifax for fatherless children – boys and girls – and their mother Eliza Strickland’s fight to support and keep the family together.

The school remains to this day and Read went back twice to present prizes.

He was a Yorkshireman who thrived on adversity, but also on the nurturing he received in the City of Leeds cultural influences, especially in modern art and its university.

His distinguished military career ensured a place in the Green Howards history, where they celebrate him as an officer who went on to create a legacy, both literary and artistic, beyond the military life.

The display attempts to convey his intelligence, resilience and leadership qualities.