Comments on: Journal Of a Man Unknown By Gillian Tindall

By: Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Wilkins — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 11:58:57 +0000

So sorry to hear of Gillian’s death. I had a lovely correspondence with her over a number of years and she recommended your website to me.

It was through her that I was introduced to the current owners of 49, Bankside – it was they who told me of her illness back in July. I have several of her books and now want to find them all!

By: Kate Jones

Kate Jones — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 10:19:12 +0000

I am sad to read of Gillian Tindall’s death. She was literally a household name as I was growing up – my grandmother worked for her father ‘s publishing company in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Her book, The Streets Beneath, was later avidly read by my mother and I as our family had lived in Kentish Town in the 1890s. The book had a great influence on my own approach to local history.
I now volunteer in a second hand bookshop and was delighted to receive donations of 2 of her books recently.

By: Richard Buchanan

Richard Buchanan — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 17:05:27 +0000

I have a much cherished copy of The House by the Thames, in hardback, whose dustjacket has an elegant picture of St Paul’s Cathedral as framed by a riverside window of the House.

This panders to the plaque on the frontage of the House, which claims that Wren stayed there while building the Cathedral. She knew that the plaque was incorrect, but nevertheless Gillian used it as a starting point for her investigations. By the end of the book we have learnt that while St Paul’s was completed in 1710 the present House was not built until c1720. Also that what preceded it was not where Wren would have stayed.

It is quite near the end of the book that she describes the Plaque, which she dates to the early post-WW2 years, and prints out what it says. She feels that the plaque has had a part in preserving the house at a time when much good housing stock was being demolished.

It is possible that Wren did see the house as his death was in 1723.

Richard

By: Pauline

Pauline — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:35:20 +0000

I am so sorry to hear of Gillian Tindall’s death. I have read several of her books and purchased one ‘Three Houses, many lives’ as I knew one of the houses in the book (the seventeenth century merchants house in Hornsey). I always looked forward to her articles on the Spitalfields Life site so coffee in hand I sat down to read the latest only to open the mail and read the sad news. I hope to purchase a copy of her novel.

By: Sarah B Guest Perry

Sarah B Guest Perry — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:06:11 +0000

It is very sorry to hear this but wonderful news that she asked you to publish her new novel.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:05:06 +0000

Her legacy is in very good hands.
I’m very sorry for the loss of your good friend and kindred spirit.

Onward and upward.

By: Val McKenna

Val McKenna — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 11:34:07 +0000

Sad to hear of the death of Gillian Tindall. I am suddenly aware of the large contribution she has made to the pages of Spitalfields Life, and that her contributions will be another way that Gillian will be remembered.

Through the pages of Spitalfields Life The Gentle Author has enabled more of us to know her work and join in his memories of her.

Another working diligently at her craft she will be remembered through it .

By: Jo Nightingale

Jo Nightingale — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 09:29:14 +0000

Condolences on your loss. It’s wonderful that you’ll be publishing what sounds a very appealing novel, and that this was her wish.

By: Joan

Joan — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:53:26 +0000

I am genuinely sad to hear this. During lockdown I spent a lot of time researching the various past inhabitants of the houses on our (Victorian) street. From the results I made a quilt illustrating some of my findings. Through all of this I kept handy a quote from Gillian Tindall’s The Pulse Glass (p.153 for anyone interested) about our very real connection to those who had lived in our houses before us. I still have a photo of the relevant page on my phone.

By: Ulf Jacobsen

Ulf Jacobsen — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:04:19 +0000

Dear Gentle Author,

I am most sorry to hear this.