W H Davies

William Henry Davies was born in a pub and learnt early in life to rely on his wits and his fists - and to drink. Around the turn of the century, when he was twenty-two, his restless spirit of adventure led him to set off for America, and he worked around the country taking casual jobs where he could, thieving and begging where he couldn't. His experiences were richly coloured by the bullies, tricksters, and fellow-adventurers he encountered - New Haven Baldy, Wee Shorty, The Indian Kid, and English Harry, to name but a few. He was thrown into prison in Michigan, beaten up in New Orleans, witnessed a lynching in Tennessee, and got drunk pretty well everywhere. A harrowing accident forced him to return to England and the seedy world of doss-houses and down-and-outs like Boozy Bob and Irish Tim. When George Bernard Shaw first read the Autobiography in manuscript, he was stunned by the raw power of its unvarnished narrative. It was his enthusiasm, expressed in the Preface, that ensured the initial success of a book now regarded as a classic.

In his note to the 1920 edition of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, W. H. Davies states that it was written 'on the advice of friends who claimed my life of adventure would have an interest for the public'. They were not wrong. Starting with his early life in Wales, Davies documents how he was always restless as a child, having minor brushes with the local constabulary and often truanting from school. His restive demeanour continued into his youth, where he openly admits he was 'running wild, taking no interest in my trade, and determined to throw off all restraint'. Acting upon impulse, Davies embarked for America and began a life that would take him the length and breadth of that country. With refreshing honesty Davies leaves little of this life to the imagination, offering detailed accounts of his American tramping, varying from the extraordinary honour of tramps who look down on the working man, to the winter months spent in prison to avoid the cold, to the weakness of spending any money he saved on excessive drinking sprees. However, after a tragic accident he returns to England with ambitions of becoming a published author. In a touchingly evocative narrative, Davies recounts his financial difficulties leading to his tramping of England trying to earn enough money to self-publish his work. The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp is a fascinating read, which takes the reader on an incredible journey through the life of a supremely talented, tragically flawed, yet undeniably unique man.