William Roberts, R.A. (1895-1980)

Alfred Edgar Coppard (1878–1957) was a writer and poet. The eldest of four children, he left school aged 9 to help provide for his family when his father died, running errands for a Jewish trouser maker in Whitechapel. He later moved to Oxford, using prize money won as a spare-time athlete to buy books and develop his early taste for reading and study, and in 1919, with savings of £50, he left his job to become a full-time writer. His first collection of stories was published in 1921, and many others followed. Noted for his influence on the short story form, Coppard's best work is close in spirit to that of Thomas Hardy.