Mervyn Peake
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
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Mervyn Laurence Peake was born in 1911 in a small town in China called Kuling to a missionairy father. There, he attended Tientsin Grammer School. When Mervyn and his familly moved back to England, he attended Eltham Colledge, in Kent then at the Croydan School of Art. In the years 1929 until 1933, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools.
In 1936, he started teaching life drawing at the Westminster School of Art. He there met his future qife to be, Maeve Gilmour.
At the break of the second World War, Mervyn attempted to enter the army as a war artist. Instead of this position, however, he attained a rank in the army and thus was commisioned to fight. It was during this time (about 1941) that he started to write what would be the first Titus (better known as Gormenghast) trillogy entitled Titus Groan. Every now and then, he would send the chapters that he had completed back to his wife. There, she kept them and declared them one of the things she would take in case of a fire.
However, the army was simply too much for Mervyn. In 1942, he suffered a mental breakdown. He was disscharged from the army. However, he was a bit of a war artist.
After the war, Mervyn was one of the first people to go inside Bergen-Belsen. The images that he saw there afected him after for the rest of his life.
At the age of 46, Mervyn developed Parkinson's Desiease and later died of it in 1968. He was only 57.
Mervyn Laurence Peake was born in 1911 in a small town in China called Kuling to a missionairy father. There, he attended Tientsin Grammer School. When Mervyn and his familly moved back to England, he attended Eltham Colledge, in Kent then at the Croydan School of Art. In the years 1929 until 1933, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools.
In 1936, he started teaching life drawing at the Westminster School of Art. He there met his future qife to be, Maeve Gilmour.
At the break of the second World War, Mervyn attempted to enter the army as a war artist. Instead of this position, however, he attained a rank in the army and thus was commisioned to fight. It was during this time (about 1941) that he started to write what would be the first Titus (better known as Gormenghast) trillogy entitled Titus Groan. Every now and then, he would send the chapters that he had completed back to his wife. There, she kept them and declared them one of the things she would take in case of a fire.
However, the army was simply too much for Mervyn. In 1942, he suffered a mental breakdown. He was disscharged from the army. However, he was a bit of a war artist.
After the war, Mervyn was one of the first people to go inside Bergen-Belsen. The images that he saw there afected him after for the rest of his life.
At the age of 46, Mervyn developed Parkinson's Desiease and later died of it in 1968. He was only 57.
