R. F. Delderfield (1912–1972)
Author of To Serve Them All My Days
About the Author
R. F. Delderfield also wrote the novels God Is an Englishman and Theirs Was the Kingdom in the saga of the Swann family
Series
Works by R. F. Delderfield
Too Few For Men 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Delderfield, R. F.
- Legal name
- Delderfield, Ronald Frederick
- Birthdate
- 1912-02-12
- Date of death
- 1972-06-24
- Gender
- male
- Education
- West Buckland School
- Occupations
- journalist
editor (newspaper)
playwright
antiques dealer
novelist
autobiographer - Organizations
- Royal Air Force (WWII)
Exmouth Chronicle - Relationships
- Delderfield, Eric R. (brother)
Evans, May (wife) - Short biography
- R.F. (Ronald Frederick) Delderfield was born in South London. The family moved to Devon when he was a child and he attended the West Buckland School. After leaving school, he became a junior reporter for his father's newspaper, the Exmouth Chronicle, and eventually rose to become its editor. He then began to write stage plays and became a highly successful novelist, renowned for his portrayals of slices of English life. His multi-novel sagas, including A Horseman Riding By (1966–1968), a trilogy consisting of Long Summer's Day, Post of Honour and The Green Gauntlet, made him one of Britain's most popular authors, and his books are still widely read. Many of his works were adapted for British television. His autobiography, For My Own Amusement, was published in 1972.
- Cause of death
- lung cancer
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Bermondsey, London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Sidmouth, Devon, England, UK
Addiscombe, England, UK - Place of death
- Sidmouth, Devon, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
British Author Challenge May 2023: Jan Morris & R.F. Delderfield in 75 Books Challenge for 2023 (June 2023)
Reviews
My dream profession had always been teaching. I got my degree and then I did work as a teacher in Poland for a period of two years and even now, ten years later, I look back at it as my best times working. Somehow, life didn’t work out the way I wanted and while living here I gave up teaching and became a translator instead. But I still do look back with nostalgia and sentiment at the time when I felt most fulfilled spending time in a classroom with my students. Therefore, reading To Serve show more Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield became a very personal and beautiful experience to me.
The novel gives us a story of David Powlett-Jones, a young man traumatized by three years fighting in WWI , who ends up getting a teaching position in Bamfylde, a public school for boys in England. P.J., as he is called by all who know him, applied for this job at the suggestion of his war doctor to heal his mental and emotional wounds acquired while fighting in this war meant to end all wars. David soon finds out that teaching is not merely a job but that it becomes a way of living and true healing. He makes dear friends among teachers and students alike and discovers that he was born to be a teacher, a guide for all the boys who change from children into adolescents right in front of his eyes and under his guidance. And miraculously, his own wounds do heal and the school prepares him for what’s to come in life just as much as it does those boys he teaches. It’s another wonderful saga by Delderfield spanning the years between the end of WWI and the beginning years of WWII in which there is a lot happening in England just as much as in all other parts of the world.
In my review of God Is An Englishman, I already expressed my great affection towards Delderfield’s writing talent. To Serve Them All My Days not only confirmed it but turned out to be actually better even though I didn’t think it possible. It is not an easy book to read in terms of the subject it deals with. There are many heartbreaking moments when I was reminded how much havoc WWI did wreak in lives of all people, especially the ones who survived. David, who as a boy went through the death of his father and his two older brothers who died buried in a collapsed coal mine, emerged from the three years spent on the battlefield shattered and without hopes for ever being able to deal with war experiences. Bamfylde’s headmaster, Algy, deals with the deaths of boys he came to treat as his sons, he raised to adulthood only to send them to their demise. Many times I cried because I was reminded how real all these war experiences were even to us, almost a century later. Not to mention, David’s commitment to his students and his life lived through his teaching, was something I could identify with to the point where I would stop and think that by giving up teaching myself, I defied my destiny somehow.
I truly adored this novel and I was sad to let it go. I wish there had been more of David and all others that came after him. R.F. Delderfield is now officially on the list of my favorite writers. The book is quite big, with 600 pages but once I started reading I didn’t notice the length at all. Reading To Serve Them All My Days is an experience, not merely an activity and it is one of those books that give you a story you will not soon forget, that will give you characters that you will know, inside out, and you will crave to meet one more time. show less
The novel gives us a story of David Powlett-Jones, a young man traumatized by three years fighting in WWI , who ends up getting a teaching position in Bamfylde, a public school for boys in England. P.J., as he is called by all who know him, applied for this job at the suggestion of his war doctor to heal his mental and emotional wounds acquired while fighting in this war meant to end all wars. David soon finds out that teaching is not merely a job but that it becomes a way of living and true healing. He makes dear friends among teachers and students alike and discovers that he was born to be a teacher, a guide for all the boys who change from children into adolescents right in front of his eyes and under his guidance. And miraculously, his own wounds do heal and the school prepares him for what’s to come in life just as much as it does those boys he teaches. It’s another wonderful saga by Delderfield spanning the years between the end of WWI and the beginning years of WWII in which there is a lot happening in England just as much as in all other parts of the world.
In my review of God Is An Englishman, I already expressed my great affection towards Delderfield’s writing talent. To Serve Them All My Days not only confirmed it but turned out to be actually better even though I didn’t think it possible. It is not an easy book to read in terms of the subject it deals with. There are many heartbreaking moments when I was reminded how much havoc WWI did wreak in lives of all people, especially the ones who survived. David, who as a boy went through the death of his father and his two older brothers who died buried in a collapsed coal mine, emerged from the three years spent on the battlefield shattered and without hopes for ever being able to deal with war experiences. Bamfylde’s headmaster, Algy, deals with the deaths of boys he came to treat as his sons, he raised to adulthood only to send them to their demise. Many times I cried because I was reminded how real all these war experiences were even to us, almost a century later. Not to mention, David’s commitment to his students and his life lived through his teaching, was something I could identify with to the point where I would stop and think that by giving up teaching myself, I defied my destiny somehow.
I truly adored this novel and I was sad to let it go. I wish there had been more of David and all others that came after him. R.F. Delderfield is now officially on the list of my favorite writers. The book is quite big, with 600 pages but once I started reading I didn’t notice the length at all. Reading To Serve Them All My Days is an experience, not merely an activity and it is one of those books that give you a story you will not soon forget, that will give you characters that you will know, inside out, and you will crave to meet one more time. show less
So I'm apparently the last person on earth to read this one but that oversight is finally over. And what a book! David Powlett-Jones returns from WWI, damaged both physically and mentally and is directed to try his hand teaching at Bamfylde, a boys' boarding school near Devon. No degree or experience but he seems to have found the place to heal his soul, among the boys and colleagues, all so vividly portrayed by a master storyteller.
The book is long, over 600 pages, but the time just flew show more by as I was reading because it was so very engaging. And compelling. Complex characters, especially his characterization of the female characters, which is particularly impressive considering the book was written in the early 70s and depicts the years between the wars. Someone described it as sentimental. Maybe so but also compassionate, funny, endearing and just wonderful all the way around. This book was enhanced for me by the Backlisted podcast which I listened to earlier today. I found the BBC mini-series on YouTube and will have to watch that, because of course I will. show less
The book is long, over 600 pages, but the time just flew show more by as I was reading because it was so very engaging. And compelling. Complex characters, especially his characterization of the female characters, which is particularly impressive considering the book was written in the early 70s and depicts the years between the wars. Someone described it as sentimental. Maybe so but also compassionate, funny, endearing and just wonderful all the way around. This book was enhanced for me by the Backlisted podcast which I listened to earlier today. I found the BBC mini-series on YouTube and will have to watch that, because of course I will. show less
(28) Oh dear - I loved this book . . . just loved from the first page to the last. It checks all the boxes for me - long and twisty with the passage of time; strong sense of place; historical backdrop; erudite yet whimsical at the same time - none of the ponderous pretension of postmodernism - just excellent story-telling and dialogue. A shell-shocked young Welshman, survivor of trench warfare is sent to a remote public school in the north of England to be a schoolmaster. Perhaps a sense of show more purpose away from everything can help him recover in some meaningful way. David Powlett-Jones is a fish out of water but with the help of the jovial Headmaster, and some crusty friends, he earns the trust of the boys who are balm to his wounds. He finds he is a damn good teacher and mentor and Bamfylde - the school - becomes his universe. And the readers too, for several weeks as this is a 600 page book with closely-spaced type on big pages! I was lost in it and looked forward to reading it everyday.
I loved Howarth and Towser, and the interlude with Alcock as Head and the tense exchanges between he and PJ - so well done. I couldn't believe Beth and the twins; and never really warmed up to Chris. I am now watching the BBC miniseries on You-tube and think it would make a great re-make for HBO/Netflix. Anyway, I digress. I think this is a tremendous testament to living a life defined by meaningful work. however that is defined by you. You stay with it; through the ups and the down; sometimes just showing up is all you can do; and then sometimes you are inspired and you move forward in great leaps and bounds. It resonated for me in the medical profession where so many of us are experiencing burn-out and looking to jump ship. Some days are Carters, and Alcocks, and tedium, and the smell of the piggeries. And some days are frost on the moor; Boyer, the Kassavas; and Scotch with an old friend.
This novel is great entertainment and great solace. It has much to say about duty, honor, paying it forward, recompense for hard work; generational tension; generosity. It reminds me a bit of 'The Cazalet Chronicles, by Elizabeth Jane Howard, of a 'A Separate Peace' by John Knowles. Both very different but impactful books that gave me the same glow after reading as this fabulous novel. Put it on your summer reading list! show less
I loved Howarth and Towser, and the interlude with Alcock as Head and the tense exchanges between he and PJ - so well done. I couldn't believe Beth and the twins; and never really warmed up to Chris. I am now watching the BBC miniseries on You-tube and think it would make a great re-make for HBO/Netflix. Anyway, I digress. I think this is a tremendous testament to living a life defined by meaningful work. however that is defined by you. You stay with it; through the ups and the down; sometimes just showing up is all you can do; and then sometimes you are inspired and you move forward in great leaps and bounds. It resonated for me in the medical profession where so many of us are experiencing burn-out and looking to jump ship. Some days are Carters, and Alcocks, and tedium, and the smell of the piggeries. And some days are frost on the moor; Boyer, the Kassavas; and Scotch with an old friend.
This novel is great entertainment and great solace. It has much to say about duty, honor, paying it forward, recompense for hard work; generational tension; generosity. It reminds me a bit of 'The Cazalet Chronicles, by Elizabeth Jane Howard, of a 'A Separate Peace' by John Knowles. Both very different but impactful books that gave me the same glow after reading as this fabulous novel. Put it on your summer reading list! show less
I must have read this some years ago as parts of it seem familiar, yet others sparklingly fresh. There is much of 'Good-bye Mr Chips' in the story, albeit separated by a couple of generations - young inexperienced schoolmaster comes to an established school, challenges in school, love-marriage and death, and a headmastership. Perhaps that is why this feels so familiar?
To Serve Them All My Days is a much more complex and fulfilling story than Chips. You are drawn into the life of the school show more and Powlett-Jones, Pow-wow to the boys, in a way Hilton's shorter book cannot achieve.
Thoroughly enjoyable, if a bit long winded at times. Perhaps Delderfield need the editor Pow-wow had for 'The Royal Tigress'! show less
To Serve Them All My Days is a much more complex and fulfilling story than Chips. You are drawn into the life of the school show more and Powlett-Jones, Pow-wow to the boys, in a way Hilton's shorter book cannot achieve.
Thoroughly enjoyable, if a bit long winded at times. Perhaps Delderfield need the editor Pow-wow had for 'The Royal Tigress'! show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 52
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 5,211
- Popularity
- #4,780
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 78
- ISBNs
- 280
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 19