- Maurice Denton Welch was
born on 29th March, 1915, in Shanghai, China, where he
spent his earliest years. His father was an English
businessman, and his mother an American from New England.
Welch was the youngest of four brothers and his time in
China appears to have been happy. When his mother died in
1926 Welch was devastated, and he suffered the double
blow of being sent to be educated in England, at first at
a preparatory school and then in 1929 to Repton School.
This was a very unhappy time for him and at the age of 16
he ran away from school.
- Welch made a better start when he attended Goldsmiths' School of Art. Intending a future as a painter, he lived in Greenwich where he lodged with Evelyn Sinclair, who later became his housekeeper. He had a natural aptitude for art, but his life changed forever on 7th June, 1935 when, aged 20, Welch was knocked off his bicycle by a car.
- His injuries were severe and he spent several months in hospital and then at a sanatorium. He never fully recovered, although he was able to resume painting and frequently exhibited his work at the Leicester galleries in London, and continued with his other interests in a limited way. His altered circumstances caused him to take up writing, and he is best-known for his three semi-autobiographical novels, Maiden Voyage, (1943), In Youth Is Pleasure, (1945), and A Voice Through a Cloud, (1950).
- He met his companion, Eric Oliver, in November 1943 while he was convalescing. Oliver was a farm-worker living in Maidstone, and was a regular visitor. He acted as nurse for Welch, then his secretary, and finally as his literary executor when Welch died at the age of 33. Welch was open about his homosexuality and wrote to the Times Literary Supplement to complain about an article about Gerard Manley Hopkins which evaded the issue of the poet's homosexuality.
- Denton Welch left behind a small but highly acclaimed body of writing, various canvases and drawings (including an undated self-portrait in oil now in the National Portrait Gallery in London) and a restored 18th Century dolls house which is in the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood.
Page updated 16th February 2006