Projects
Project 01: Harry Bensley
I first heard about Harry Bensley one wet December night about fifteen years ago in my local pub. Starting on New Year’s Day 1908, Harry Bensley had walked ‘around the world’ wearing an iron mask and pushing a pram.
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According to the legend, Harry Bensley was a landed gentleman who’d gone on his walk for a wager of £21,000, set by Lord Lonsdale and J.P. Morgan. They drew up a list of three towns in each English county that Harry had to visit and stipulated a number of other countries he must travel to. They also said he must find a wife on the journey who would marry him sight-unseen.
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When I got home from the pub that night, I did some research and found that what I had been told seemed to be true. There was even a picture of the wife he’d found!
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Because I was a single mother at the time, trapped by family responsibilities, Harry Bensley became a talisman of freedom and anonymity. I used to think about his journey often, sometimes I’d even imagine I’d seen him turning a corner… dressed in his helmet, pushing a pram.
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It wasn’t until 2019, that I decided to investigate further. I started my PhD and chose Harry as a subject. What I found out was shocking. Yes, Harry had been on a very long walk pushing a pram but had done so after leaving prison. Not only that, he wasn’t a landed gentleman but a working-class man from Thetford who cheated and lied throughout his life. My journey into his misadventures took me around the country and, when lockdown, started I continued my obsession by dressing as one of his four wives.
While my research journey continued, my past with a difficult ex reemerged and my family-life was in chaos. The story of Harry acted as both a foreground and backdrop to this. I found parallels between the life of his wives and my life. I discovered how stories can act as a solace but they also can be dangerous when they mask the reality of what is actually happening.
I am currently looking for representation for this memoir/biography hybrid and am available for lectures on the tumultuous life of Harry Bensley.
Project 02: Greenacres
In 2021, I was invited to join a group of artists, photographers, potters, and songwriters to track the progress of Greenacres Farm. Greenacres Small Holding is in Witnesham, Suffolk, and is run by Andy and Jo. The land has belonged to Andy’s family since 1906, although it once was a much bigger farm. The corner that Andy managed to retain was once used as a dumping ground for farm machinery and rubbish.
Since 2017, Andy and Jo have been re-purposing the land using Regenerative Farming methods, maintaining and sustaining the Suffolk Heritage Breeds, In September 2021 they opened as a producer-led Community Farm offering a membership of the farm for a share of the harvest. You can find out more about how to support them here.
As my role as writer in residence, I have been tracking their progress in a commonplace book with line drawings and text. This book will be ready for an exhibition of all the art created around this farm in October 2024.
Maggie
Reg
Page about Andy's Corner
Project 03: Conversations with Curators
In 2019, I was invited to join a group of artists and writers to take inspiration from objects held at Moyes Hall Museum in Bury St. Edmunds. Inspired by a shard of stained-glass window picturing John Lydgate, I explored the life of this fourteenth century poet. They visited Lidgate church, which has graffiti on its pillars, some of which is said to be done by Lydgate in the 1370s.
These etchings inspired me to write a short story about the day Lydgate scratched his name, and to present this story within an illuminated manuscript, with niave drawings which mimicked the style of the graffiti.
The exhibition which included this work was held at Moyes Hall Museum in November 2019. The book was presented on a lecturn painted by Duncan Boon to represent the scratchings of the original graffiti John Lydgate and others did.
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Moyes Hall Museum requested to keep the manuscript and lectern after the exhibition. It went on permanent display.