Kingsley Read 1887‒1975: a memoir

By Mrs M.W. Mottram and Brian Read

Ronald Kingsley Read was born on the outskirts of Birmingham on 19 February 1887. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Handsworth, now part of Birmingham but then surrounded by fields. It was at Handsworth that Kingsley’s brother Leslie was born: he, however, died at the age of five from appendicitis, an ailment for which at that time there was no known cure.

Kingsley had a logical mind and clearly remembered his incredulity during his kindergarten days that Y O T would not spell yacht. His sister Christine was born while he was boarded at Handsworth Grammar School and several cousins—all musically minded—were born at about this time. Over the years there were many musical get-togethers when members of the family would play and Kingsley’s cousin Roy Thompson would produce his own compositions. Kingsley himself never mastered an instrument but he did have a rich and expressive singing voice which made him a useful member of local concert parties.

In 1903, rather than attend a University, Kingsley chose to go to the Birmingham School of Art, then under the direction of Robert Catterson Smith, an Irish disciple of William Morris. Here he received a most valuable training in design and developed a particular interest in reed and quill lettering in the beautiful Carolingian style.

In 1906, at the age of nineteen, Kingsley met and became engaged to his future wife Gladys Randall. They married on 20 September 1911 and throughout their lives they celebrated a ‘mensiversary’ on the 20^th day of each month. They had a common love of poetry, music, painting and wild, lonely places.

Their holidays were always spent among mountains. Gladys was a keen naturalist, while Kingsley revelled in the forces of wind and water, the structure of landscape and cloud shadows patterning the hills.

On leaving the Birmingham School of Art, Kingsley worked for a local firm on time and motion study, then in its infancy. There he remained until the end of the First World War, when he became a partner in a new business making sidecars, prams and large toys. His three children, who benefitted from having a father in the toy trade, were all born at Olton, near Birmingham. Within a few years, however, the business failed and in 1924 the family began a series of migrations as Kingsley travelled from place to place seeking work. His father did much at this time to support him and his family. They lived mainly in country cottages and small houses and, despite the lack of a water supply, gas and electricity, Gladys was never happier than during the 15 months they spent in some hardship at Over Haddon above the beautiful Lathkil Dale in Derbyshire. Throughout their difficulties, they both retained their interest in words. The rooms were filled with books and the children were encouraged to invent and act in small plays.

Having moved house seven times in five years, they eventually settled in Sutton Coldfield in 1929. In 1928, Kingsley had founded a business which he called Sign Craft House, which produced lettering of every kind in materials ranging from neon tubes to bronze, glass, ivorine and wood. His daughter Mavis joined him in this work in 1932. In due course, Kingsley and Gladys became members of the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham, where they acted in (and Kingsley produced) plays. Kingsley even took small parts in plays at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Throughout this period, he developed a strong interest in phonetics, studied the work of Isaac Pitman and Robert Bridges on written language and corresponded with George Bernard Shaw on the largely phonemic alphabet of Henry Sweet (the prototype of Henry Higgins).

When in 1941, Shaw appealed for a designer to improve the Sweet alphabet, Kingsley’s logical approach and his experience of both design and phonetics gained Shaw’s approval. Some ten years after Shaw’s death, Kingsley was one of the four contestants chosen to share the prize money in the Shaw Alphabet competition, which had attracted 476 entries. Kingsley was later appointed sole designer.

On the outbreak of the Second World War, Sign Craft House was put into voluntary liquidation and Kingsley sought other means of livelihood. He worked for a short time as a works inspector and as a cashier. In 1947 he was engaged by an educational firm, where he remained until his retirement. On the very day he reached the age of sixty-five, Gladys and he retreated to the country. They spent the rest of their lives in the 16^th century village of Abbots Morton, Worcestershire, where they bought two cottages which they themselves converted into a delightful home. Here, they continued to pursue the interests of their earlier years. They introduced the villagers to amateur dramatics and joined SAMA, a three-arts club in Worcester devoted to painting, music and drama. Both jointly and separately they held many exhibitions of their paintings. Kingsley evolved a modified version of the Shaw Alphabet which he called Quickscript. Gladys maintained her interest in the garden.

Although peripheral neuritis progressively took control of his feet, Kingsley lived a full and productive life to the end. A few days before his death in February 1975, he completed his work on an enlarged Roman alphabet (now called Read-spel), a development fully recorded in this Catalogue.