Great Brickhill has produced, attracted and inspired a surprising range of authors, historians, researchers and storytellers.
Some wrote about the village directly. Others recorded family life, military history, photography, fiction or subjects whose connection with Great Brickhill became part of the wider Heritage story.
This collection brings those writers together.
It includes earlier published authors as well as more recent work produced by residents and contributors. In doing so it connects formal published history with local knowledge, personal research and lived experience.
The purpose is not simply to make a list of books. We want to record who wrote them, why their work matters, and what each contribution adds to our understanding of Great Brickhill.
There are other authors who have included information used in this site. Please refer to the References section.
Latham Wainewright ( – 1833)
Latham Wainewright, (d 1833), Rector of Great Brickhill, is credited with writing a published work held at the Bodlian Library: Letters (21) to EH Barker. Ref: Bodl MSS 1003-06
Mrs A C Osborn Hann (1885c – 1963)
A C Osborn Hand published over 70 novels, many written whilst living in Great Brickhill. Some were about her Girl Guide interests, but there she covered many other interests. Amazon has a good collection of these.
AVM Sir Laurence Sinclair (1908 – 2002)
The photo above is in Sir Laurences’s book (below) but also on the display at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. He was College Commandant in 1952 or thereabouts.
Sir Laurence published his book ‘Strike to Defend’ in 1992. Merryl Jenkins (Copy Write Services) copy-read the script which Sir Laurence published himself. Copies are hard to find.
Sir Laurence starts his personal story when he joined the Royal Air Force in 1926 by winning an aircrew place at the RAF Collage Cranwell as a flight cadet. On the same course in engineering as cadet (later Sir) Frank Whittle, he forged several friendships that stayed with him as he progressed through several UK postings and to India; not his favourite. He was posted as commanding officer of 110 Squadron in 1940 at the beginning of World War Two and was awarded the George Cross for rescuing fellow aircrew following a crash on the RAF Wattisham airfield.
Sir Laurence’s book is very personable, written after his retirement whilst living with his wife Val in Great Brickhill. It is however, short on local history and makes no reference to the village although there are a few references to Val and his daughter Sue’s life locally. They were all keen on horses for which the area was well known. See Wikipedia. Please see Sinclair Family as well.
J F Roxburgh (1888 – 1954)
Roxburgh is credited with several books including the following:
- The Treasury of Knowledge (Introduction)
- The Poetic Procession:a beginner’s introduction to English poetry
- General Knowledge Illustrated
- Eleutheros, or the Future of the Public Schools
See Roxburgh Family.
Michael Warth (1953 -)
Micheal was born in Reading and lived in Great Brickhill in the 1970s – 80s having completed teacher training at Milton Keynes College of Education. He was a teacher at High Ash School. Whilst there, he wrote the Great Brickhill in the Mid 1800s book which we have included elsewhere. He moved to Wing in 1984 and became Deputy Head at Overtone School. Whilst there he wrote ‘Wings Over Wing’ about the former RAF Station at Wing. He moved from Wing to the Reading area later.
Michael wrote ‘Great Brickhill in the 1800s’ published by Buckingham County Council in 1988. The content has been transcribed with Michael’s permission and included herein. The books written while Michael was working as a teacher at High Ash School. I understand it was written as the result of a teaching project so is also the result of work of his colleagues and pupils I imagine. The original book was set in very small type and the monochrome production by Bucks County Council could have been improved on. The current format herein is easier to read and the text is fully searchable. This will make the contents more useful and far more accessible to readers and researchers alike.
Josephine Cox (15 Jul 1938 – 17 Jul 2020)
Josephine published over 60 novels, some based on the local area. Her books are widely available.
David Marlow (1946 -)
David’s first published book was at the end of a photography course at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2013. Titled ‘Street Photography with the V&A Museum’, it contained photos from the course shot in and around London.
He then went on to create books for St Mary’s Church Great Brickhill using Apple and then Blub as publishers. Copies of the Year Books are held in the church. The current one is on display, the older ones are kept in St Mary’s Church by the church warden in the library there.
- 2013 St Mary’s Church Harvest Celebration
- 2014 St Mary’s Church Year Book
- 2015 St Mary’s Church Year Book
- 2016 St Mary’s Church Year Book
- 2017 St Mary’s Church Year Book
- 2018 St Mary’s Church Year Book
- 2019 St Mary’s Church Year Book
- 2021 St Mary’s Church Year Book
The above and others are all published on Blurb and some are on Amazon as well. The books below are published on KDP Amazon;
- 2020 My Taste of Summer – Autobiography
- 2021 Great Brickhill Ex-Servicemen – A Compendium of Résumés about Local Ex-Servicemen
- 2026 Heritage Site Meets High Tech — David Marlow
Living Nearby
Sir Frank Markham MP (19 October 1897 – 13 October 1975)
Sir Frank lived in Leighton Buzzard and was an MP at Buckingham. His two volume book includes many chapters of interest to the village. There are good descriptions of the Civil War for instance and then later, about transport, train and canal links and how the village featured in their development. This is recommended reading to anyone interested in the village history. See Wikipedia.
- History of Milton Keynes & District vol. 1 (1973), 81, 140, 206, 208.
- History of Milton Keynes & District vol. 2 (1973), 111.
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