Jon Stallworthy

Who is Jon Stallworthy?

Jon Stallworthy FBA FRSL is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of Wolfson College, a poet, and a literary critic.

Stallworthy's parents, Sir John Stallworthy and Margaret Stallworthy, were from New Zealand and moved to England in 1934. Stallworthy started writing poems when he was only seven years old. He was educated at the Dragon School, Rugby School and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate prize. His works include seven volumes of poetry, and biographies of Wilfred Owen and Louis MacNeice. He has edited several anthologies and is particularly known for his work on war poetry.

While researching the local history of New Zealand Stallworthy discovered an obscure volume entitled Early Northern Wairoa written by his great-grandfather, John Stallworthy, in 1916. From this book he learned that his great-great-grandfather, George Stallworthy, had left his birthplace of Preston Bissett in Buckinghamshire, England, for the Marquesas as a missionary. This discovery led in turn to him finding family-related letters in the archives of the London Missionary Society.