Dr Dolittle, its Nottingham link.

Matt Turpin, the intrepid Lord Beestonia, has written about a ‘strange link’ between two Nottingham plaques, Henry Kirke White’s and J M Barrie’s. @Beeestonia’s theory is that the tragically short life of Kirke White (partly) inspired Barrie’s Peter Pan. Have a read.

Inspired by this, I’ve another story for you: that our Henry Kirke White plaque set in motion a chain of events that led to the publication of ‘Doctor Doolittle’.

Henry Kirke White was born a butcher’s son in the Nottingham meat market known as The Shambles. His plaque was put up near there in 1906, to mark the centenary of his death. In addition to this plaque, Nottingham University College launched their annual Henry Kirke White Prize for poetry.

The Shambles

A young poet, by the name of Cecil Roberts, knew of the HKW plaque having worked in the Shambles as a ‘snooper’ for the council. In 1912 Roberts entered a poem into the HKW competition. His long poem called ‘The Trent’, lamenting the loss of a friend, won the Prize, helping Roberts on his way to a successful career as a writer, one that would later see him return to the Council House to become the first novelist to be named a Freeman of Nottingham.    

Our boy Cecil Roberts, winner of the HKW Poetry Prize

Roberts was on a ship sailing to New York for a lecture tour when he found himself lounging next to an English civil engineer called Hugh Lofting. Every night at six, Roberts’ deck-chair companion would say “I have to go,” and he’d pop off to tell his kids a bedtime story.

Hugh Lofting, Roberts' shipmate.

Enquiring about this, Roberts was told, “Oh, I’ve invented a character called Dr. Dolittle. It’s a nickname I’ve given to my little boy Colin who has set himself up as a doctor for sick animals. They have all sorts of adventures.”

Roberts asked Lofting if he ever wrote the stories down. Lofting told him he did, and showed them to him, complete with his own illustrations.

“You should have these stories published,” said Roberts.

Lofting looked surprise. “Do you think they’re good enough?”

“Indeed I do,” said Roberts, who gave him a letter to present to his New York publisher Frederick Stokes and Co. 

Within 12 months, Roberts received an inscribed copy of ‘The Story of Doctor Dolittle’, the first of a successful series.

When Lofting died, his third wife inherited the Dolittle copyrights, which later passed to her son Christopher who became a millionaire. The original inspiration for Dr. Dolittle, Lofting’s son Colin, never received a penny.