Philip
Larkin’s birthplace, Radford, Coventry
Philip was born in this former council house, presumably on
his parent’s bed in the front bedroom on 9th August 1922. There was
a full moon that night. He was late and had thick black hair which didn’t
remain over his lifetime.
He lived here
with his parents Sydney and Eva and sister Kitty until he was five years old.
Little is written about Kitty who was ten years older. Though Philip was
indulged and pampered he would look back as childhood as “a forgotten boredom.”
Aged four or five years he developed a stammer that would remain with him until
his thirties. He also had bad eyesight that remained until his death.
Sydney was
from Lichfield in Staffordshire and Eva was from Epping in Essex and they met
on a holiday in Rhyl in Wales. Rain forced Eva to run into a hut to find
shelter. Sydney was already there and interrupted the quietly-spoken Eva who
was reading to introduce himself. He was on a cycling holiday and was only in
Rhyl for another three days. Within these three days they were engaged. They
were married five years later as Sydney, who would become a self-made man, was
at the beginning of his career which peaked with him becoming a Borough
Treasurer.
The
Larkins moved into this large comfortable house when Sydney’s employers
arranged for somewhere for him to live when there was a housing shortage due to
the war. Sydney and Eva ran a repressive household with few visitors.
Relatives rarely called to wade into the gloom. Sydney was strict and
authoritative and Eva was pitiable and compliant. Sydney’s shadow was cast
across the whole of his son’s life deeming him atheistic, right-wing, racist
and almost unlovable.
From this home
the Larkin’s moved a large three-storey middle-class house complete with
servant quarters near Coventry railway station. I would have visited it but it was
demolished in the 1960s to make way for the construction of an inner ring road.
There was no
blue plaque on this house. Some homeowners don’t want geeks like me turning up
on a Sunday afternoon with a camera and twenty questions.
Taken in 2017…
The house is on the left…
The older photo on Wikipedia…
